NTC official: Libya’s Gaddafi hiding near Algeria border

A senior Libyan military official has said Muammar Gaddafi is believed to be taking refuge near the western town of Ghadamis near the Algerian border under the protection of Touareg tribesmen.

A senior military official of the Libya's new leadership, Hisham Buhagiar said "one tribe, the Touareg, is still supporting him and he is believed to be in the Ghadamis area in the south.”

Family's home town

The coordinator of the hunt for Gaddafi Buhagiar said the ousted Libyan leader was believed to have been in the southern town of Samnu a week ago before moving to Ghadamis, which lies 550 km (345 miles) southwest of Tripoli.

He said Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam was in Bani Walid and another son, Mutassem, was in Sirte, the family's home town.

Buhagiar added "they are both thinking about leaving Libya maybe to Niger."

One of the last bastions of support for Gaddafi, Sirte has been surrounded by forces of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) and under bombardment from NATO warplanes.

Different course

Taking Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli, would bring the NTC closer to gaining control of the whole country, a goal that has eluded it more than a month after its fighters seized the capital.

Buhagiar said most tribes in the south were against Gaddafi except for the Touareg, who still supported him.

He added that "There has been a fight between Touareg tribesmen who are loyal to Gaddafi and Arabs living there (in the south). We are negotiating. The Gaddafi search is taking a different course".

Reuters/ Adekusibe/Iheanacho