( CNN ) -- Moammar Gadhafi 's Bab al-Aziziya compound is the heart of his nearly 42-year rule , a symbol of his defiance of the West . The sprawling complex houses modern government offices , the Bedouin tent in which Gadhafi received visitors and stands of palm trees . A bombed-out building remains as a monument to a 1986 U.S. airstrike that killed one of Gadhafi 's daughters , along with a statue of a Libyan fist crushing an American jet . And Tuesday evening , after rebel fighters who have battled Gadhafi 's forces for six months punched into the compound , it was wreathed in smoke . Rebels posed around the statue and fired hundreds if not thousands of rounds of ammunition into the air in celebration , spurring the occasional rebuke from senior fighters . The rebels picked through the compound in search of Libya 's longtime strongman , but one fighter told CNN that neither Gadhafi nor any members of his family had been found . Bab al-Aziziya appeared to have been abandoned so quickly that a teakettle remained heating on a stove in one building , he said . `` They ran away , all of them , '' he said . `` They have gone underground . '' Bab al-Aziziya , located near Tripoli 's Mediterranean shore , is believed to be undergirded by a network of tunnels . Abubaker Saad , a former Gadhafi aide , told CNN that at least one of the older buildings on the site was built atop a bunker four stories underground . But he said it was unlikely that Gadhafi had been in the complex before it was overrun Tuesday , since it had been targeted by repeated NATO airstrikes during the last few months of fighting . `` You have to remember that he is a military man , '' Saad said . `` He knows they have weapons that could penetrate those bunkers . '' In addition , he said , the poor quality of the audio messages Gadhafi delivered on state television Sunday suggests Gadhafi `` is speaking from a distance . '' CNN National Security Contributor Frances Townsend had what she called an `` absolutely bizarre experience '' meeting there with the eccentric Libyan leader in the summer of 2007 , when she served as President George W. Bush 's chief counterterrorism advisor . Townsend said she was required to ride to the compound in a car sent by Gadhafi , and the Libyans tried to separate her from her U.S. security detail , but one agent was able to jump into the car before it departed . Once through a series of checkpoints , Townsend said , the driver stopped in front of the bombed-out museum -- an echo of a U.S. raid in retaliation for the bombing of a Berlin disco that killed two American servicemen . She then waited in one of the many spacious rooms decorated in traditional Arab fashion , with couches lining the perimeter , for her audience with Gadhafi . The Libyan ruler 's tent was surrounded by a field of knee-high grass , as well as both uniformed and plainclothes guards . Inside , it was filled with numerous rugs and couches . Other visitors say the compound includes a mosque , a library and the residences of other government officials . CNN 's Sara Sidner , Thomas Evans and Pam Benson contributed to this report .
The Bab al-Aziziya compound includes Gadhafi 's home and government offices . Also inside are a building hit in a 1986 U.S. airstrike and Gadhafi 's Bedouin tent . Rebel fighters overran the site on Tuesday after six months of fighting .