Gaddafi threatens attacks in Europe | World news

• Friday 8 July 2011 21.00 BST

• Article history

 

Muammar Gaddafi told Libyan television that hundreds of martyrs would launch attacks in Europe. Photograph: FIDE Press Service / EPA

Muammar Gaddafi has threatened to send hundreds of Libyans to launch attacks in Europe in revenge for the Nato-led military campaign against him.

In a speech on Libyan television the Libyan leader said: "Hundreds of Libyans will martyr in Europe. I told you it is eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth. But we will give them a chance to come to their senses."

The Canary Islands, Sicily, other Mediterranean islands as well as Andalusia in southern Spain were Arab lands that should be liberated, he said.

Gaddafi, whose forces have been battling rebel fighters increasingly encroaching on his territory and Nato warplanes, was speaking to a crowd of about 50,000 in the desert town of Sabha, about 500 miles south of Tripoli.

The speech appeared designed to show that he still enjoys support in the areas of Libya still under his control.

"You will regret it, Nato, when the war moves to Europe," he said.

"The Libyan people have no problem, the colonial powers are the ones who have a problem. They want to control our oil. They are jealous because God gave us the gift of oil," Gaddafi said.

"We do not fear them. We have no choice but to resist, become martyrs and fight on till the end."