Gaddafi still in Libya: Spokesman Moussa Ibrahim

Tripoli, Aug 29 (ANI): Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's spokesman Moussa Ibrahim has claimed that the toppled Libyan leader is still in Libya.

Ibrahim said that Gaddafi is ready to begin talks to hand power to the rebels, and that negotiations would be led by the dictator's son, Saadi, who wants to prevent Tripoli becoming 'a sea of blood', the Daily Mail reports.

Britain stepped up the hunt for Gaddafi yesterday as mystery continued to surround his whereabouts. Reports suggest that RAF spy planes, crack SAS troops and MI6 intelligence experts all joined the search for the tyrant amid rumours that he had fled Libya.

There were also rumours that Gaddafi would seek sanctuary with one of two other despots, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe or Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and that some members of his family had gone to Europe.

However, following Ibrahim's claims, the rebels rejected Gaddafi's offer, insisting that he is a criminal who would be put on trial if captured.

Gaddafi loyalists are continuing to fight the insurgents, particularly around Gaddafi's home town of Sirte.

Meanwhile, the rebels have claimed that Gaddafi's loyalists have seized farms near his home town of Sirte and are holding civilians as hostages.

"The Gaddafi [brigade] came there and stayed with them. They (the government forces) are on a hill above there, and also in the houses. The people cannot leave," Commander Ali Ahmed of the rebel Sidra brigade said. (ANI)