While the pillaging of Bab al-Aziziya was the most conclusive evidence yet that Colonel Qaddafi’s rule was at an end, it was not yet clear how much his fall would do to pacify Qaddafi partisans who may feel they have much to lose from the rebels’ ascendance, especially while their leader remains at large.

As a reminder that he remained on the loose, Colonel Qaddafi, in an address broadcast early Wednesday over a local Tripoli radio station, called his retreat from Bab al-Aziziya “tactical,” Reuters reported. He blamed months of NATO airstrikes for bringing down his compound and vowed “martyrdom” or victory in his battle against the alliance. It was the second such address by Colonel Qaddafi, 69, since his forces lost control of Tripoli.

Rebel leaders acknowledged Tuesday that their forces in Tripoli are not under any unified command. Some are simply Tripoli residents who have taken up guns, and have little or no military experience. And rebels from the western mountains fight in independent brigades from each town or tribe, spraying its name — “Zintan” or “Nalut” — as they go.

Rebel military commanders said that aside from the area around Bab al-Aziziya, they believed that only two other neighborhoods of Tripoli remained under the control of Qaddafi loyalists. One is Al Hadba. The other is Abu Salim, which includes the Rixos Hotel. A group of journalists have been trapped there for days, first by Colonel Qaddafi’s guards and now by gunfire outside. On Tuesday the BBC reported that the hotel had come under attack as well, forcing the journalists to take shelter.

But gunmen and snipers hostile to the rebels continue to operate in many other neighborhoods, and doctors at clinics and hospitals around Tripoli reported hundreds of gunshot wounds over the last 72 hours, even in neighborhoods rebels consider well controlled.