The latest reports indicate that according to a former bodyguard for one of the Embattled Libyan President Col. Muammar Gaddafi is heading south via Bani Walid towards Sabha, the Landon-based The Guardian publications has revealed.
The same route also said to have been used by the members of his family who have escaped to Algeria was in Tripoli as late as Friday, having a meeting with his son Khamis and daughter Aisha, and then headed towards Sabha, 500 miles (800km) south in the desert, according to Khamis’s 17-year-old bodyguard.
An Italian news agency had earlier speculated Gaddafi and another son, Saif al-Islam, had fled to Bani Walid . Sabha is one of the last remaining major holdouts for Gaddafi’s forces. There are reports Khamis and intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi were killed over the weekend, the third time Khamis has been reported dead during the conflict.
Algeria government, however, is to close part of its border with Libya, reports say owing to likely UN embargo.
The rebel National Transitional Council called Algeria’s decision to host Gaddafi’s wife Safiya, daughter Aisha and sons Hannibal and Muhammed an “act of agression” and said they would try to extradite them.
Gaddafi loyalists in Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown and a remaining stronghold for his troops, have until Saturday to surrender, the head of the rebel National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, has announced.
NATO jets have been seen over the town again, according to reports and the Anti-Gaddafi forces have converged on the city from east and west but stopped short of an all-out attack in the hope of negotiating the town’s surrender.
Meanwhile, a human rights group has found evidence that Gaddafi’s troops used civilians as human shields, and committed war crimes such as rape and summary killings.
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