TRIPOLI, Libya, Feb. 24 (UPI) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi blamed the violence in his country on young people, who he said were taking pills and being exploited by Osama bin Laden.
“Our children have been manipulated by al-Qaida,” Gadhafi said, speaking by phone on state TV Thursday.
“Those exploiting the youth have to be arrested,” he said.
Gadhafi spoke amid reports of pro-Gadhafi forces killing unarmed civilians in the town of Zawiya, CNN reported.
Specifically addressing Zawiya, he said, “We shouldn’t leave” the town “without any control.”
Gadhafi showed no sign of even considering giving up the post he has held for more than 40 years.
“I have only moral authority,” he said. “We have three million Libyans — they run the country.”
The Libyan capital of Tripoli resembled a ghost town as sounds of gunfire sent anti-government protesters into hiding, witnesses said.
In other portions of the embattled north African nation, demonstrators against Gadhafi’s regime declared victory after reportedly seizing control of Misurata, the third largest city, CNN reported.
The opposition also controls the second-largest city, Benghazi, where crowds greeted international journalists with cheers and the only gunfire heard was in celebration, observers said.
Opposition groups took control of cities across a swath of northern Libya that stretched hundreds of miles from Tobruk, near the Egyptian border, to Misurata, 120 miles east of Tripoli, The Washington Post reported.
In Tripoli, however, “There’s nobody walking in the street, nobody is trying to get out, even to look through the window,” one resident told CNN. “It’s a little scary.”
The person said reports were circulating about “kidnappings happening in homes for anybody credible that is talking to the media and giving them the truth about what’s happening in Libya.”
Unrest throughout Libya has gone on for more than a week, prompting foreign governments to scramble to remove their citizens as world leaders urge Gadhafi to cease military actions against demonstrators.
Gadhafi, in a rambling televised speech earlier this week, vowed to “die here as a martyr” and “cleanse Libya house by house.” He called the protesters “cockroaches” and “greasy rats” and said the unrest was due to foreigners, including the United States and the al-Qaida terrorist group.
Human Rights Watch estimated about 300 people had been killed in a week of clashes. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini Wednesday put the death toll at more than 1,000.
Diplomatic and military personnel have defected over Gadhafi’s use of violence to quell the demonstrations.
A U.S.-charter ferry for evacuating citizens was in port in Tripoli because of bad weather Thursday. Diplomatic officials said citizens are safe on board and the ship is expected to depart once the weather cleared.
U.S. President Barack Obama said a unified international response was forming against Gadhafi’s use of violence against protesters. He said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would go to Geneva next week to address the issue.
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