Fighting raged Wednesday as Muammar Gaddafi's troops fought back at his Tripoli compound a day after it was captured, while rebels offered a $1.7 million reward for the elusive strongman, dead or alive.Washington for its part said Libya's stockpile of weapons of mass destruction had been secured and that it was confident the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) could set up governing structures after overrunning Tripoli.
A group of mostly foreign journalists who had been confined to Tripoli's Rixos Hotel by pro-Gaddafi hardliners were freed but other loyalists kidnapped four Italian journalists near the capital, and two French journalists were wounded by stray gunfire at the compound but were recovering.The rebels also made key diplomatic gains when two of Gaddafi's staunchest African allies - Chad and Burkina Faso - said they recognise the NTC as the sole representative of the Libyan people.
During the afternoon, thick smoke hung over the Bab al-Aziziya complex, where rebels and Gaddafi forces fought with light arms, heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades and mortars.
Fighting also spread to the nearby Abu Slim area, where loyalists were on the attack, a day after they fled as rebels overran Bab al-Aziziya.
Other pro-Gaddafi troops fired heavy Grad rockets in a bid to regain control of Tripoli's airport from a small group of rebels holding on.
But manager Arabi Mustafa said that once the security problems are resolved and water and electricity restored, the airport would be reopened.A rebel military spokesman told Al-Jazeera television that "Libyan territory is 90 to 95% under the control of the rebellion."
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