Deposed Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has dismissed reports he fled across the border to Niger as "psychological rumours" and insisted he is still in his home country during a defiant broadcast on Syrian TV.
In a phone call to the Arrai TV channel, aired on Thursday morning, Gaddafi also said his forces were poised to start of a new offensive against the “rats” of the National Transitional Council, who he said were a front for Italy, France and Nato.
"To all he Libyan people - the Libyan land belongs to you," he said.
His most potent vitriol was reserved for the European countries that had assisted in overthrowing his regime:
"They are all germ and rats - they are not Libyan. Capture them."
"Nato will retreat defeated. The Libyan people are marching in their millions, in the streets and in the cities."
"The youths are now ready to escalate the resistance against the rats in Tripoli and to finish off the mercenaries. We will defeat Nato... Nato is rejected by the Libyan people.”
He also said that a convoy crossing the Libyan border into Niger was “nothing exceptional".
In response to the broadcast, Anis Sharif, a spokesman for Tripoli's new military council, said that it was only a matter of time until Gaddafi was captured or killed.
"He can't get out," said Sharif. "We are just playing games with him."
Mohammad Taynaz, Libya's new deputy defence minister, said the fugitive tyrant may still be hiding in Tripoli, using the city's tunnels for refuge.
"Once the country is free, there will be nowhere for him to hide in Libya," he said.
It was reported on Wednesday that Gaddafi, his son, Saif al-Islam, and a raft of loyalists had escaped the country via the convoy, which French authorities claimed was bound for the city of Agadez.
"This is not the first time that convoys drive in and out of Niger," said Gaddafi.
In a defiant address, the despot reaffirmed he will not leave Libya, saying he was prepared to die in the land of his ancestors.
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, Niger's Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum dismissed reports suggesting the tyrant had used Niger for his escape.
"There is no news about Gaddafi in Niger, we have no news about him, it is not true that he has tried to come into Niger or he came into Niger."
Meanwhile, a video from the ransacked Gaddafi compound in Tripoli has emerged, showing the leader playing with his granddaughter.