Al-Rai TV said it would air the comments in full and reported an excerpt in which the leader of Libya's unraveling regime vowed his forces would resist "the aggression with all strength" until "martyrdom" or victory. Gadhafi did not say where he was speaking from.
Al-Arabiya television reported that forces loyal to Gadhafi were attacking the city of Ajelat, west of Tripoli, with missiles and tanks, and that dozens of missiles had hit Tripoli near Bab al-Aziziya.
The capital remained chaotic and violent Tuesday, with rebels and pro-Gadhafi forces claiming control amid ongoing fears of reprisal attacks.
Rebels stormed Gadhafi's compound with apparent ease, made off with guns and ammunition and began tearing down pictures of Gadhafi.
Live TV footage showed rebel fighters streaming through the imposing gates of Gadhafi's compound on foot or in trucks and SUVs that bore the scars of battle. The mostly young men kicked at statues honoring Gadhafi, and one man hacked away at a sculpture depicting a hand crushing an airplane - commissioned by Gadhafi after the 1986 U.S. bombing of Libya and a symbol of his defiance against the West.
The rebels appeared to be consolidating their grip, but the surprise appearance of Gadhafi's son and onetime heir, Saif al-Islam, outside a Tripoli hotel Tuesday raised skepticism of the claims of the rebels, who had said they had captured the son.
Libyan rebels told Al-Arabiya that more than 400 people were killed and at least 2,000 injured in the fight for Tripoli.
Briefing reporters in Naples, Italy, a NATO spokesman, Col. Roland Lavoie, said that the alliance was unaware of any rebel attacks on civilians, saying it had "no signs that anti-Gadhafi forces are operating in a manner not consistent with the mandate," a reference to the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing NATO to protect Libyan civilians.
Privately, NATO warned the rebel National Transitional Council that it would protect civilians from them if necessary, a NATO official told McClatchy, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing operation.
Relief groups reported that Tripoli residents were fleeing in greater numbers, and Amnesty International warned that prolonged fighting in the capital could create a humanitarian crisis.
The U.N. humanitarian coordinator's office in New York said that it had received reports that civilians had been forcibly displaced by fighting and prevented from moving from areas because of the hostilities.
The International Organization for Migration, a U.N.-affiliated group, was forced to delay docking a boat that it had chartered to evacuate 300 migrant workers stranded by the violence because of "poor security conditions at the port" in Tripoli.
"The risk to civilians increases with each day of violence in Tripoli, not just for people caught up in the fighting but also because conditions could become dire if residential areas are affected by the clashes, with food supplies, water, and electricity all likely to be hit," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's Middle East director.
NATO officials sought to make Gadhafi an afterthought, with Lavoie saying that the military alliance had no interest in searching for him because "he is not a key player anymore." The comments seemed at odds, however, with the devastating blitz of air strikes that NATO had launched in recent weeks on Bab al-Aziziya, a massive city-within-a-city complex of barracks, offices, and Gadhafi's living quarters, which sat in a bunker designed by West German engineers.
Experts cautioned that Libya's ability to form a new government could be hampered if Gadhafi is not found.
"It's not over until he is over," said Mark Perry, a Washington-based military expert. "So long as Gadhafi is still free, he can be a rallying point of resistance to the new government."
Meanwhile, there were reports that pro-Gadhafi fighters had fled to Sirte, his hometown, but it was unclear how he could have traveled there, given that all roads there are controlled by the rebels.
Mahmoud Shammam, a member of the rebel council, told CNN in a phone interview that rebels planned to go "peacefully" into Sirte, considered a bastion of Gadhafi support about 200 miles east of Tripoli. He confirmed that the town was among the pockets of territory still outside rebel control.
Shammam said he did not expect a hostile response from the people of Sirte, but he said rebels were prepared to fight if confronted by Gadhafi loyalists.
The rebel council pushed ahead with its plans to form a government, with a rebel military spokesman, Col. Ahmed Bani, telling Al-Jazeera satellite network that it planned to move its headquarters to Tripoli from the eastern city of Benghazi, where it has been based since the uprising began in February. Bani did not specify a timetable.
In Washington, State Department officials said that they were working with the United Nations to unfreeze up to $1.5 billion of U.S.-held assets for the new rebel government. Rebel officials said that they would hold a summit Wednesday in Qatar, a key ally, to discuss international funding for Libya's reconstruction.
Lavoie said NATO would continue flying missions over Libya as long as pro-Gadhafi troops weren't confined to their bases and remained a threat to civilians. He said that while NATO was generally aware of rebel operations, he denied that NATO was flying close-air support for the rebels as they fought Gadhafi forces.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
