Global General

Gaddafi says he will not leave Libya

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-04-30 14:30

TRIPOLI -?Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi vowed on Saturday that he will not leave Libya.

"I'm not leaving my country," he said in a live television address early on Saturday. "No one can force me to leave my country," he said.

He also called for negotiations with NATO powers to end the air strikes against Libya.

"We did not attack them or cross the sea...Why are they attacking us?" Gaddafi said.

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"Let us negotiate with you, the countries that attack us," he said.

As the Libyan leader was calling for a cease-fire, NATO warplanes bombed a site in the capital of Tripoli next to the television building where he gave the address.

"A building adjacent to the Jamahiriya building was bombed during the broadcast of Muammar Gaddafi's speech and that implies a target on the leader of the revolution himself," the television said after Gaddafi had finished speaking.

A Libyan official also said the strikes were meant to kill Gaddafi.

"We believe the target was the leader," said government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.