Libya's opposition is offering a $1.67 million reward for the capture of Moammar Gadhafi.

Transitional National Council leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said Wednesday his opposition group supports a decision by local businessmen to provide the reward in an attempt to speed up Mr. Gadhafi's capture.

The former leader's whereabouts are unknown, but U.S. officials say they believe he is still in Libya.

Earlier Wednesday, fighting broke out again at the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, one day after rebel fighters overran the former Gadhafi headquarters.

A leader in the anti-Gadhafi forces, Anis Elsharif, told VOA that opposition fighters are continuing to battle government loyalists in some pockets of Tripoli. However, the rebels appear to be widening the areas of the capital that are under their control.

TNC member Abobakr Ba'are says the group's plans, in a post-Gadhafi era, are to establish security, meet the basic needs of the Libyan people and then begin work on creating what he called a “transitional” parliament. He commented in an interview Wednesday from Benghazi.

Meanwhile, clashes continued Wednesday in Zuara, a town west of Tripoli, as well as near Mr. Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte.

In a separate development, four Italian journalists were kidnapped near Zawiya, a town 50 kilometers west of Tripoli. Italy says the abductors — described as Gadhafi loyalists — killed the driver of the journalists' vehicle.

Earlier in the day, about 35 journalists who had been detained by Gadhafi loyalists in Tripoli were set free. They had been held at a hotel in the capital for four days.

A pro-government television channel has quoted Mr. Gadhafi as saying he retreated from his Tripoli compound in a “tactical move,” following dozens of NATO airstrikes. Al-Rai TV reported Wednesday that Mr. Gadhafi addressed Libyans on a local radio station, saying he vowed martyrdom or victory in his fight against what he called NATO aggression.

TNC leader Jalil said Tuesday that days of fighting in Tripoli had left more than 400 people dead and 2,000 wounded. He did not specify whether he was talking about both sides in the conflict.