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NTC: Gaddafi spokesman arrested in Sirt

Arab World Materials 30 September 2011 01:30 (UTC +04:00)

Libya's revolutionary forces have reportedly arrested the spokesman for the fugitive former Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi's, deposed administration in the north of the country, Press TV reported.

On Thursday, the opposition National Transitional Council (NTC)'s commanders said the council's revolutionaries had captured the official, Moussa Ibrahim, in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, AFP reported.

"Misrata (a northwestern Libyan city) fighters contacted us and gave us the information that Mussa Ibrahim has been captured," said Mustafa bin Dardef, a field commander of NTC's Zintan Brigade.

Another NTC commander, Mohammed al-Marimi, said Ibrahim "was captured while driving outside Sirte by fighters from Misrata."

Libya has been the scene of intense fighting between the government troops and the opposition fighters since the revolution seeking to topple Gaddafi's decades-long rule began in mid-February.

In a notable advancement, the fighters drove into the heart of Tripoli on August 21, seizing control of much of the Libyan capital, without facing significant resistance from the regime forces.

Meanwhile, the NTC's interim justice minister, Mohammed al-Alagi, said on Wednesday that an arrest warrant had been issued for the former Libyan Premier, Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi, who has fled the country for neighboring Tunisia.

Hisham Buhagiar, a senior NTC military official, said late on Tuesday that Gaddafi, himself, was believed to be hiding near the northwestern town of Ghadames under the protection of tribesmen.

"One tribe, the Touareg, is still supporting him and he is believed to be in the Ghadames area in the south," he noted.

The official said Gaddafi's son, Mutassem, was in Sirte, while his another -- high-profile -- son, Saif al-Islam, was in the northwestern city of Bani Walid -- one of the former dictator's last strongholds. "They are both thinking about leaving Libya maybe to Niger."

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