As night fell on Tuesday after a day in which rebel forces gained "full control" over Moammar Gadhafi's fortified Bab al-Aziziya compound in Libya's capital, heavy fighting was reported in a southern desert city, Sabha, that rebels forecast would be Gadhafi loyalists' last redoubt.
Forces loyal to Gadhafi were shelling the towns of Zuara and Ajelat, west of Tripoli, and had gained control of parts of the town, Arabiya television reported.
In Tripoli itself, Reuters correspondents said there still appeared to be some hostile fire around the city center as darkness descended and looting broke out.
Gadhafi speaks out
Early Wednesday, the besieged dictator told state TV that his withdrawal from the bastion was a "tactical move."
He also said the compound was leveled to the ground from 64 NATO airstrikes.
He vowed death or victory in his fight against NATO "aggression."
It was not clear from the remarks when Gadhafi abandoned the Bab al-Azaziya compound.
"We are resisting with all our strength... we will either win or become martyrs, God willing," Gadhafi said.
Gadhafi was speaking on a local Tripoli radio station and his talk was reported by Al-Orouba TV.
Hours later, al-Rai TV broadcast more audio remarks from Gadhafi. "All Libyans must be present in Tripoli, young men, tribal men and women must sweep through Tripoli and comb it for traitors," the Libyan leader said. "I have been out a bit in Tripoli discreetly, without being seen by people, and ... I did not feel that Tripoli was in danger," he added.
Gadhafi government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told Al-Orouba TV in a live interview after Gadhafi's talk was aired that the regime can resist for months or years.
Ibrahim claimed that 6,500 volunteers had entered Tripoli "in the past six hours" and have spread throughout "all the streets of Tripoli." More tribesmen were on the way to battle rebels, he said.
He threatened to turn Libya into a "burning volcano and a fire under the feet of the invaders."
Ibrahim said forces left the Bab al-Aziziya compound because it "no longer served a military or strategic purpose."
He also said that Gadhafi forces captured four "high ranking'' Qataris and one United Arab Emirates national.
Loyalists strike back
Omar al-Ghirani, a spokesman for the rebels, said loyalist forces had fired seven Grad missiles at residential areas of the capital, causing people to flee their homes in panic.
"The Al-Sour road, which is not far from (Gadhafi compound) Bab al-Aziziya ... isbeing pounded by Grad missiles and mortars," a witness told Arabiya television by telephone.
The station also reported that pro-Gadhafi forces are heading from Bani Walid toward Tripoli, about 60 miles northeast, to attack rebels.
He told Reuters Gadhafi forces had also fired mortar rounds in the area of the Tripoli airport.
The continued shooting suggested the six-month popular insurgency against Gaddafi, a maverick Arab nationalist who defied the West and kept an iron hand on his oil-exporting, country for four decades, had not completely triumphed yet.
Gadhafi's compound, shown in news video as heavily damaged by NATO airstrikes but with some buildings still standing, had emerged as one of the last centers of government resistance before it was overrun by rebels.
"It's over! Gaddafi is finished!" yelled a fighter over a din of celebratory gunfire across the Bab al-Aziziya compound, Gadhafi's sprawling citadel of power in the Libyan capital.
The rebels' political leaders planned high-level talks in Qatar on Wednesday with envoys of the United States, Britain, France, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates on the way ahead.
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