Fugitive Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi may be hiding the southern desert near the border with Algeria and Niger, according to an official in the transitional government.
Officials told Reuters that the fugitive leader is being protected by nomadic Taureg fighters.
“There has been a fight between Tuareg tribesmen who are loyal to Gadhafi and Arabs living there (in the south). We are negotiating. The Gadhafi search is taking a different course,” Hisham Buhagiar, a military official told Reuters.
Buhagiar said Gadhafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, is holed up in the town of Bani Walid, which is controlled by loyalist forces. His other son, Mutassem, is in Sirte, also controlled by Gadhafi forces.
NATO planes on Wednesday bombed targets and National Transitional Council (NTC) forces continued their assault on Sirte, which is located halfway between Tripoli and Benghazi, reported al-Jazeera television.
NTC forces told the station they are close to capturing the airport of Sirte. Several days earlier, they seized the city’s port.
Last month, rebel forces launched a brazen assault on Tripoli before taking over the city and Gadhafi’s compounds, forcing the longtime leader to flee.
