Now Gaddafi blames hallucinogenic pills mixed with Nescafe and bin Laden for uprisings... before ordering bloody hit on a mosque


  • Libyan leader rings up state TV to deliver latest rant
  • At least ten dead after his armed forces open fire in Zawiyah - 30 miles west of Tripoli
  • Rumour Gaddafi was shot drives oil prices down in late trading
Wealthy: Muammar Gaddafi has had 40 years to squirrel away his estimated £60bn fortune

Rant: Muammar Gaddafi followed up his bizarre speech from a bombed-out building two days ago, pictured, with a call to Libyan state TV blaming Bin Laden and hallucinogens for the uprising

Colonel Gaddafi was preparing last night for a blood-soaked final stand in Tripoli.

Thousands of hired fighters were massing on roads from the capital to join army units battling the uprising which had spread to within 30 miles of the dictator’s stronghold.

Fighting raged as Gaddafi made an extraordinary rambling speech on TV in which he compared himself to the Queen and blamed the revolt on Osama Bin Laden.

He claimed the protesters who have seized control of much of the east of the country he has ruled for 41 years were fuelled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs.

In a bizarre message to protesters, he said: ‘You need to listen to your parents. If people disobey their parents they end up destroying the country.

‘The same as in Britain (where) for 57 years the Queen has been ruling. I have been in the same situation.’

He went on: ‘Bin Laden ... this is the enemy who is manipulating the people. Do not be swayed by Bin Laden.’

Yesterday an unsubstantiated rumour that Gaddafi had been shot swept the oil markets.

CNBC reported the rumour this afternoon, claiming it was partially responsible for driving oil prices back down to $97 a barrel.

Oil had hit a high of $120 a barrel late yesterday afternoon, but settled at $97 on the rumour and on Saudi Arabia's claim that it can counter any supply disruptions from Libya.

A U.S. official told CNBC that Washington has no reason to believe Gaddafi is dead.

There is no information on where the rumour came from and no news reports substantiating it. Reuters was also reporting the rumour as unconfirmed.

Gaddafi’s former long-time ally and justice minister Mustapha Abdeljalil predicted yesterday that the Libyan leader would follow in Adolf Hitler’s footsteps by killing himself rather than give up power.

Bemused: The presenter on Libyan state television listens in silence as Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi makes a statement during a telephone interview on Libyan state TV

Bemused: The presenter on Libyan state television listens in silence as Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi makes a statement during a telephone interview

Denial: Saif al Islam Gaddafi went on state TV to say the government had not launched airstrikes against Libyan cities and said the number of protesters killed had been exaggerated

Denial: Saif al Islam Gaddafi went on state TV to say the government had not launched airstrikes against Libyan cities and said the number of protesters killed had been exaggerated

'Leave, leave': Anti-Gaddafi protesters shout slogans in Benghazi, where they have rounded up and jailed mercenaries employed by Colonel Gaddafi to put down the protests

'Leave, leave': Anti-Gaddafi protesters shout slogans in Benghazi, where they have rounded up and jailed mercenaries employed by Colonel Gaddafi to put down the protests

String him up: Effigies of Muammar Gaddafi and his son Seif are hung from a burnt state security building in Benghazi today

String him up: Effigies of Muammar Gaddafi and his son Seif are hung from a burnt state security building in Benghazi today

Mosque massacre: ten protesters were killed by Gaddafi's men in Zawiyah

Mosque massacre: Ten protesters were killed by Gaddafi's men in Zawiyah

Mr Abdeljalil, who resigned on Wednesday in protest at the bloody crackdown, said he expected Gaddafi to make good on his pledge to die on Libyan soil rather than slink into exile.

‘Gaddafi’s time is up,’ he said. ‘He is going to go like Hitler. He is going to commit suicide.’

As the death toll passed 2,000 with an estimated 300,000 refugees on the move, dozens more anti-government supporters were reported to have been killed and wounded in a series of counter-attacks yesterday by the army.

Dissident militias supported by defecting military units claimed to have the upper hand in a swathe stretching from the Egyptian border to the outskirts of Tripoli.

In the latest blow to the Libyan leader, a cousin who was one of his closest aides, Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, announced that he has defected to Egypt in protest against the regime’s bloody crackdown against the uprising.

He denounced what he called ‘grave violations to human rights and human and international laws’.

Many of those violations were said to be continuing in Tripoli, a city of some two million, where pro-Gaddafi militia have clamped down since the Libyan leader called on his supporters to take back the streets.

Residents say militia roam the main avenues, firing in the air, while neighbourhood groups have barricaded side streets trying to keep the fighters out.

At the same time, members of the feared internal security force run by Gaddafi’s brother-in-law, Abdullah Senussi, have launched raids on homes around the city.

A resident in the Ben Ashour district said vehicles full of armed men swept in on Wednesday night, broke into his neighbour’s home and dragged out a family friend as women in the house screamed. He said other similar raids had taken place yesterday in other districts.

In Zawiya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, an army unit attacked a mosque where regime opponents had been camped for days. The soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons and hit the minaret with an anti-aircraft gun. A doctor at a field clinic set up at the mosque said he saw ten bodies, shot in the head and chest, as well as around 150 wounded.

The witness said that a day earlier an envoy from Gaddafi had come to the city and warned protesters: ‘Either leave or you will see a massacre.’

Zawiya is a key city near an oil port and refineries. Despite the assault, thousands massed in the main Martyrs Square by the mosque, shouting ‘leave, leave’ to Gaddafi, the witness said. ‘People came to send a clear message: We are not afraid of death or your bullets.’

Libya in turmoil: Map shows the key battlegrounds, military bases, tribal regions and oil fields which provide half of Europe's oil

GADDAFI'S JAIL: Citizens tour an an underground jail excavated at one of his palace compounds

Gadaffi's jail: Citizens tour an underground jail excavated at one of his palace compounds

The palace and jail, in Benghazi, Libyai, was heavily damaged during the past week of fighting

The palace and jail, in Benghazi, Libyai, was heavily damaged during the past week of fighting

I'M LIKE THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND, HE RAVED

YOUNG PROTESTERS
‘Their ages are 17. They give them pills at night. They put hallucinatory pills in their drinks, their milk, their Nescafe.’

‘They are criminals ... is it logical that you let this phenomenon continue in any city? We do not see what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia (where governments were toppled) happening in Libya, ever!’

MORAL AUTHORITY
‘Those (in Egypt and Tunisia) are people needing their governments and they have demands, our power is in the hands of the people.

‘From a national, moral, ethical standpoint … they should stop. I have no authority coming from laws or decisions or anything else, I just have moral authority. I only have moral authority. I am like the Queen of England. I have jurisdictions.’

BIN LADEN
'This is the enemy who is manipulating people. You people of Zawiyah (a city 40 miles west of Tripoli where fighting has been heavy), stop your children, take their weapons, bring them away from Bin Laden, the pills will kill them. You are the extension of the republic system, not Bin Laden. He is the criminal, catch him and present him to court. He is the one in charge of any murder or any disaster. Do not be swayed by Bin Laden.

‘Al Qaeda will not succeed in Zawiyah – those of Bin Laden, they are tricking your children. I cannot believe the country is being dragged down to this degree.’

PARENTS’ DUTY
‘The constitution is clear. Take their weapons. The fathers and the mothers and the brothers of people in Zawiyah are they backing this? Stop them (the protesters). Are they standing behind those people. What is this farce? What is happening in Zawiyah is a farce!

‘I wait from you people of Zawiyah to show that I see you in the right light. Zawiyah is the land of 1,000 martyrs who fought against the Italians and it is the mother of tribes. Zawiyah! Be what I expect of you.

‘Remember in the Iraq war, the United States and Britain said they had reason to intervene. Qaeda and the international terrorists work together ... Saddam Hussein had a relationship to Qaeda ... look what America did.’

Destruction: Image taken from amateur video shows Libyan opposition groups smashing up a red car in lawless Benghazi

Destruction: Image taken from amateur video shows Libyan opposition groups smashing up a red car in lawless Benghazi

Ablaze: Protesters set fire to a factory in downtown Benghazi

Ablaze: Protesters set fire to a factory in downtown Benghazi

Nursed with care: A Libyan nurse treats a wounded man who was injured last week during the demo in Benghazi

Nursed with care: A Libyan nurse treats a wounded man who was injured last week during the demo in Benghazi