London: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has a “suicide plan” to blow up the capital city of Tripoli if it comes into the hands of rebels, Russia’s special envoy to Libya has said.
Mikhail Margelov, who recently met Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi told Russia’s Izvestia daily: “The Libyan premier told me – if the rebels seize the city, we will cover it with missiles and blow it up.”
“I imagine that the Gaddafi regime does have such a suicidal plan,” he said.
The Libyan leader “still had plentiful supplies of missiles and ammunition”, according to the Telegraph.
Margelov — who also net senior Libyan officials — questioned reports that Gaddafi could be running out of arms.
He said Gaddafi had “still not used” a single surface-to-surface missile.
“Tripoli theoretically could lack ammunition for tanks, cartridges for rifles. But the colonel has got plenty of missiles and explosives,” he was quoted as saying.
Russia abstained from a vote on a UN Security Council resolution in March that opened the way for foreign involvement in the Libyan conflict.
Gaddafi’s regime has accused NATO of killing more than 1,100 civilians.
His regime said it was seeking to prosecute NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Libyan courts for “war crimes”.
“As NATO secretary general, Rasmussen is responsible for the actions of this organisation which has attacked unarmed people, killing 1,108 civilians and wounding 4,537 others in bombardment of Tripoli and other cities and towns,” prosecutor General Mohamed Zekri Mahjubi said. (IANS)