Gadhafi Urges Rallies at HQ despite NATO Bombs: We Won’t Kneel

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has vowed to fight to death in a surprise speech during the heaviest day of NATO shelling in the capital Tripoli.

Gadhafi's voice suddenly emerged on Libyan television Tuesday afternoon -- barely an hour after the last some 30 NATO strikes pounded the capital.

He called on his supporters to rally at his Bab al-Aziziya headquarters in Tripoli “despite NATO’s bombing,” stressing that his regime “will never surrender” to NATO’s forces.

"We will not kneel and we will not surrender," Gadhafi vowed.

"You will never be able to defeat an armed people,” the defiant leader said, addressing Western countries involved in NATO's air campaign to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone aimed at protecting civilians.

“We’re not afraid and we’re stronger than your rockets and iron. We’ve decided to perform our duty towards history. The battle was imposed on us and we’re not afraid of death,” Gadhafi went on to say.

He vowed to “remain in Tripoli, alive or dead,” saying Libya’s “men and women should engage in the battle for life and victory.”

Lashing out at rebels who control the country’s east and some areas in the west, Gadhafi said: “Traitors have no value, they do not exist. The people shall prevail, I am speaking as bombs fall around me.”

“We don’t think about life or death, we think of the call of duty. Millions will march forward and we’ll disarm the armed gangs without using weapons,” he vowed.

Shortly after the recording was broadcast, fresh air strikes hit the Libyan capital.

It was the first intervention by the Libyan leader since May 19 when state television showed footage of him holding talks with a senior official apparently back from a mission to Moscow this week.

In another audio message broadcast on state television on May 13, Gadhafi said he was in a place where NATO bombs could not reach him.