Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi vowed on state television Tuesday that he would never surrender as Nato-led warplanes pounded Tripoli with one of the heaviest bombardments of the air war so far. In the audio message, his first intervention since he appeared on state television on May 19, Kadhafi said that he was close to the bombing but was still resisting and called on his people to resist too.
"Despite the bombings, we will never submit," Kadhafi said in the nine-minute broadcast. "I am near the bombing but I am still resisting. "We have only one choice - (to stay in) our country to the end. Death, life, victory, no matter what. We will not leave our country or sell it, we will not submit," Kadhafi said. "I do not think about life or death, I think only of doing my duty."
Shortly after the recording was broadcast, fresh air strikes hit the Libyan capital continuing a bombardment that had gone on throughout the day. An AFP correspondent heard eight loud explosions from the area around Kadhafi's compound in the late morning, followed by more than a dozen in the early afternoon.
A plume of smoke rose over a barracks in the complex which was "once again targeted by Nato," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said. Journalists taken on an escorted tour of the bomb-damaged compound were shown a dead body, draped in a green Libyan flag, which Ibrahim said was among a number of casualties from the air strikes.
An information ministry minder said that six bombs had struck the compound itself and eight the barracks just opposite. The British defence ministry said targets included a secret police headquarters in the heart of Tripoli and a major military installation on the outskirts. "The missions were flown as part of a co-ordinated series of precision attacks throughout the day and night by Nato aircraft targeting intelligence and military facilities in the Libyan capital," defence staff spokesman Major General Nick Pope said.