uniforms. so if so many of these pro-gadhafi forces are gone, abandoned, who is this small core that is still trying to defend that compound? reporter: gadhafi brought in a lot of mercenaries. he did fill his compound with african mercenaries. i don t know if those are the ones fighting now, but he was using them as human shields over the last several months over the course of the conflict. there is we have seen time and time again when mercenary units in the city have been cornered they will fight because if the rebels capture them, oftentimes they will just kill them on the spot. so you could have a situation where there are loyalists or they are people, mercenaries who feel it is better to fight to the death than to escape and potentially be caught by the rebels or caught by regular civilians and executed on the street. richard, hold on, i want to bring in former u.n. ambassador
the odds are decent, not great, but decent that he is there. remember, after he was bombed and he lost family members back in the 80s, he went through a very extensive process about building secure spaces for him to retreat to. so i wouldn t it will be a difficult thing to finally get congressman, i want to go live to richard engel live on the scene. what are you seeing there? what s going on there? reporter: the rebels are reporting they have entered gadhafi s compound. we have been hearing a lot of gunfire, some of it celebratory gunfire. the rebels have breached one of the gates, the western gate, enter inside the perimeter and are now fighting at close quarters with the loyal lists inside. the mosques have started to celebrate. there are cries of god is greater coming out of the mosques. they believe at this final hour that the battle for gadhafi s compound is in the final stages. this is a very difficult probably to answer, but we had
the compound? reporter: yes. the compound itself isn t exactly square. it is more of an angle. and there are a lot of different buildings inside. there are communications buildings, intelligence buildings, it is surrounded by high walls that are all the way around the perimeter. there are three main gates within the walls are small sniper holes so that people inside can fire weapons outside of the walls themselves. so it is fortified, almost like a medieval castle. the western gate is one of the main gates. once you get inside there s a large court-yard and then all of the different minor buildings within the compound itself, including the most important, which is gadhafi s private offices and the commanding control structure for the entire gadhafi regime. is there a general feeling on the ground about whether or not he may be in there? reporter: there s a lot of different speculation, but people here are certainly
he remained a leader in hiding and people here don t want to see what happened in baghdad where you have loyalists setting off car bombs, fighting an a similar etry call war. they want gadhafi to be killed definitively and not having him lead an underground revolt. what we are seeing behind you, and i think we are hearing prayers as well, could this likely go on for a while? reporter: it is something that can go on for a while, but once you have breached the wall, then you have to fight almost that s celebratory gunfire. people here are celebrating. you talk about the mosques, the mosques are encouraging people saying you are doing great. you have been doing wonderful. tell the people in the neighborhood to be strong. the moment has arrived. so that s the mosques playing a key role in giving encouragement and moral support, if you will. once you re inside the compound,
yes, their fighting will continue, even if they breach the outer walls. then they have to go and try to clear room to room. but then you are not dealing with a heavy weapon or tanks and artillery firing on the city, then it is more of a clearing operation like soldiers do when they move through a compound. yes, that could cause a lot of casualties, but it is not going to cause a lot of damage throughout the city. all righty. celebratory gunfire, but we don t know exactly what s happened inside the compound except that reporter: it could be a little premature. but it seems like the beginning of the end, yes? reporter: the beginning of the end, perhaps. once you breach the wall and they are fighting inside, it is a big compound, but you can t fight inside a walled compound forever. richard engel, thank you so much for your extraordinary reporting. the celebratory gunfire makes me more nervous here than it does with richard s experience there.