
Libyan rebels enter Tripoli, arrest Gaddafi's son
Reporters say rebels meet with little resistance as they move into Tripoli in trucks, set up checkpoints
Associated Press
Published: 08.22.11, 01:11 / Israel News
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Libyan rebels moved into the capital Tripoli on Sunday and came within two miles of the city center, as Muammar Gaddafi's defenders melted away. The rebel leadership said Gaddafi's son and one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam has been arrested.
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Libya denies Gaddafi's son killed by NATO / Reuters
Government spokesman says report of Khamis Gaddafi's death a ploy to cover up killing of a civilian family in Zlitan, a battlefront city where Gaddafi forces are trying to halt rebel advance on Tripoli
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Meanwhile a spokesman for Gaddafi's government said it was ready for immediate negotiations with rebels seeking to oust him, and has asked NATO to convince the rebel forces to halt an attack on Tripoli. Gaddafi was prepared to negotiate directly with the head of the rebel National Transitional Council, spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said.
The NTC said on Al Arabiya television that Libya's rebel fighters will halt their offensive if Gaddafi announces his departure
Associated Press reporters with the rebels said they met little resistance as they moved from the western outskirts into the capital in a dramatic turning of the tides in the 6-month-old Libyan civil war. The rebels took control of one neighborhood, Ghot Shaal, on the western edge of the city. They set up checkpoints as rebel trucks rolled into Tripoli.
One of the rebels, Mohammed al-Zawi, 30, said he was in a convoy of more than 10 trucks that entered Ghot Shaal. He said they progressed as far as the neighborhood of Girgash, about a mile and a half from Green Square, where Gaddafi supporters have gathered nightly throughout the uprising to rally for their leader of more than 40 years.
He said the rebels came under fire from a sniper on a rooftop in the neighborhood.
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"They will enter Green Square tonight, God willing," al-Zawi said.
Sidiq al-Kibir, the rebel leadership council's representative for the capital Tripoli, confirmed the arrest of Seif al-Islam to the AP but did not give any further details