NATO reviews Libya air campaign

Planes hit Tripoli several times an hour during the early hours of Wednesday, strikes which prompted the government to claim 31 people had been killed.

Saying bombs were falling around him, a defiant Colonel Gaddafi appeared on state television and vowed to fight to the death.

The leader made an audio broadcast from a secret location before releasing footage of him apparently meeting "tribal chiefs" to show he was unaffected by the heavy bombardment of Tripoli.

During a nine-minute speech, the defiant leader said: "Despite the bombings, we will never submit."

Gaddafi told listeners: "I am near the bombing but I am still resisting." 

It is the first time the leader has spoken publically since state television showed him holding talks with a senior official on 19 May.

Gaddafi's message comes as labour minister Manfur al Amin defected from the Libyan government, announcing at a meeting of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva that he was changing sides.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim claimed at least 31 people were killed in 60 NATO air strikes on Tripoli.

The Ministry of Defence said NATO targets included a secret police headquarters in the heart of Tripoli and a major military installation on the outskirts.

In America, President Barack Obama said it is just a matter of time before Gaddafi was ousted.

Gaddafi's troops and the rebels have been in a stalemate for weeks, neither able to hold territory on a road between Ajdabiyah and the government-held oil town of Brega.