Rebel fighters sit in a vehicle on the road between Misrata and Sirte, Moammar Gadhafi's hometown, on Tuesday.
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CNN
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 30, 2011
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- At least 50,000 people -- both civilians and combatants -- have been killed in Libya's six-month war to oust strongman Moammar Gadhafi, a rebel military commander told CNN Tuesday.
The grim number was culled from death tolls reported in battle zones -- including Benghazi, Misrata, Tripoli and the Nafusa Mountains -- as well as from accounts from agencies such as the Red Cross, said Hisham Abu Hajer, the Tripoli Brigades coordinator.
The threat of even more bloodshed loomed as alarming reports of human rights violations surfaced and the leader of Libya's interim council issued an ultimatum Tuesday for tribal leaders in towns still under the control of loyalists: Surrender peacefully or face fierce military battles come Saturday, after Eid al-Fitr festivities have drawn to a close.
Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of the National Transitional Council, told reporters Tuesday that the rebels are in negotiations but will use brute force if the loyalists don't give in.
Jalil said the rebels hope to "avoid more bloodshed and to avoid more destruction and damage." But in the end, he said, "It might have to be decided militarily. I hope this will not be the case."
As fighting continued for the last bastions of Gadhafi's grip, the longtime dictator's whereabouts still were unknown. Members of his family, including Gadhafi's wife, Safia, two sons -- Mohamed and Hannibal -- and daughter Aisha escaped to Algeria.
Mourad Benmehidi, Algeria's ambassador to the United Nations, said his nation allowed them to enter on "humanitarian grounds."
Unlike Libya's other neighbors, Algeria has not recognized the authority of the National Transitional Council and the authoritarian government in Algiers has much to fear with Arab revolutions so close to home.
Jalil said Tuesday that the rebels would ask Algeria to extradite members of the Gadhafi family back to Libya. He also said that once Libyan liberation is complete, the country will set up courts to hear people's complaints against the Gadhafi regime.
But significant battles still stood in the way of total victory, most notably at Sirte and Bani Walid in the north and Sabha in the south. There has been speculation that Gadhafi and his other sons could be hiding in one of those towns.
Rebel fighters forged ahead Tuesday toward Sirte, situated along the Mediterranean coast between the capital, Tripoli, and the opposition nerve center of Benghazi.
Tripoli residents greeted the end of Ramadan with celebratory gunfire amid news that one of Gadhafi's most notorious sons, Khamis, died after a battle with rebel forces Sunday night in northwest Libya between Tarunah and Bani Walid.
A rebel commander said Khamis Gadhafi was buried in the area.
Members of his 32nd Brigade, the Khamis Brigade, were known for human rights abuses. Human Rights Watch said Monday that the brigade executed detainees a week ago in a warehouse near Tripoli.
Forces led by Khamis Gadhafi also killed scores of captive civilians as they tried to retreat from Tripoli, according to Muneer Masoud Own, who said he survived the massacre. CNN could not independently verify the claim, though Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both documented the alleged incident.
The United Nations voiced "extreme alarm" at the reports of "atrocious human rights violations" in Libya, including the summary executions.
"We are also deeply concerned about reports that there are still thousands of people unaccounted for who were arrested or taken prisoner by Gadhafi security forces either earlier in the conflict, or before it even started," said Rupert Colville, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"Given the gruesome discoveries that have taken place over the past few days, there is good reason to be extremely concerned for their safety," Colville said. "We urge any members of the former regime in a position to reveal where prisoners have been held to do so, before more lives are lost."
Another report, released Tuesday by Physicians for Human Rights, documented crimes committed in the city of Misrata, under siege from Gadhafi's forces until rebels were finally able to win.
The report cited four witnesses who saw Gadhafi's troops forcibly detain 107 civilians and used them as human shields to guard munitions from NATO strikes.
One father told the physicians group that soldiers forced his two young children to sit on a tank, and threatened the family, saying, "You'll stay here, and if NATO attacks us, you'll die too."
The report said Gadhafi shielded weapons in markets, mosques and schools and detailed accounts of detention and torture.
In another instance, four witnesses told the group that Gadhafi's forces demolished a home for the elderly and abducted 36 disabled, elderly, and homeless people whose whereabouts remain unknown.
Although Libya's war is not over, signs of normalcy began to sprout in Tripoli Tuesday. Some shops reopened. Traffic picked up and humanitarian aid was trickling in. France reopened its embassy Monday and Britain said its personnel are preparing to do the same.
But food and water were in short supply.
The United Nations' World Food Programme was dispatching about 600 tons of staple food commodities -- wheat flour, pasta, vegetable oil and tomato paste -- for the Red Cross to distribute in Tripoli.
The U.N. children's agency was procuring 5 million liters (1.3 million gallons) of water to ship to Tripoli. The agency warned Libya was facing a potentially disastrous water shortage, mainly due to disruptions in the pipeline network serving areas that lack water resources.
Another of Gadhafi's sons, businessman Saadi Gadhafi, has offered to negotiate an end to the war with the rebels, who he claimed cannot "build a new country without having us (at) the table." He has made previous offers, though this time he appeared ready to cut loose from his father and his brother Saif al-Islam, once assumed to be the heir apparent.
"If (the rebels) agree to cooperate to save the country together (without my father and Saif) then it will be easy and fast. I promise!" Saadi Gadhafi said in an e-mail to CNN's Nic Robertson.
