LIBYA: Kadafi urges supporters to take to the streets

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Libya’s ousted leader, Moammar Kadafi, is calling on his supporters to take to the streets to resist the country’s provisional leaders, according to an audio message broadcast Thursday on Syrian-based Al Rai TV.

In the message, Kadafi purportedly says the Transitional National Council, which has governed since rebel forces took Tripoli in August, has no legitimacy.

‘I call on the Libyan people, men and women, to go out into the squares and the streets in all the cities in their millions,” the message says, according to the Associated Press. ‘Don’t be afraid of anyone. You are the people. You have right on your side. You are the rightful people of this land.’

The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified and it was not clear when it had been recorded.

It came as fighting continued for the cities of Surt and Bani Walid, two of the last bastions of support for the former strongman. Kadafi remains a fugitive, but has used Syrian television channels to send messages from hiding to try to rally his followers.

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-- Alexandra Zavis in Los Angeles