Libiya : Hundreds of Libyan rebels stormed Moammar Gaddafi’s compound Tuesday, charging wildly through the symbolic heart of the crumbling regime as they killed loyalist troops, looted armories and knocked the head off a statue of the besieged dictator. But they found no sign of the man himself.

The storming of Bab al-Aziziya, long the nexus of Gaddafi’s power, marked the effective collapse of his 42-year-old regime. But with Gaddafi and his powerful sons still unaccounted for – and gunbattles flaring across the nervous city – the fighters cannot declare victory.

Hours after the battle erupted, a pro-Gaddafi TV channel quoted the Libyan leader as saying he retreated from his Tripoli compound in a “tactical move” after 64 NATO airstrikes turned it to rubble. Al-Rai TV said Wednesday it would air the comments in full and reported an excerpt in which Gaddafi vowed his forces would resist “the aggression with all strength” until either victory or death.