Gadhafi’s wife, 3 kids flee from Libya to Algeria

Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya

Moammar Gadhafi’s wife and three of his children fled Libya to neighboring Algeria on Monday, firm evidence that the longtime leader has lost his grip on the country.

Gadhafi’s whereabouts were still unknown, and rebels are worried that if he remains in Libya, it will stoke more violence. In Washington, the Obama administration said it has no indication Gadhafi has left the country.

Rebels also said one of Gadhafi’s other sons, elite military commander Khamis, was probably killed in battle.

The Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Gadhafi’s wife Safia, his sons Hannibal and Mohammed, and his daughter Aisha entered the country across the land border. It said Algerian authorities have informed the United Nations Secretary General, the president of the U.N. Security Council, and the head of the Libyan rebels transitional leadership council.

Ahmed Jibril, an aide to rebel National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said officials would “demand that Algerian authorities hand them over to Libya to be tried before Libyan courts.”

Gadhafi’s children played important roles in Libya’s military and economic life. Hannibal headed the maritime transport company; Mohammed the national Olympic committee. Aisha, a lawyer, helped in the defense of toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the trial that led to his hanging.

Ahmed Bani, military spokesman of the council, said he was not surprised to hear Algeria welcomed Gadhafi’s relatives. Throughout the six-month Libyan uprising, rebels have accused Algeria of providing Gadhafi with mercenaries to repress the revolt.

Over the weekend, the Egyptian news agency MENA, quoting unidentified rebel fighters, reported that six armored Mercedes sedans, possibly carrying Gadhafi’s sons or other top regime figures, had crossed the border at the southwestern Libyan town of Ghadamis into Algeria. Algeria’s Foreign Ministry had denied that report.

Bani said Monday that rebel forces may have killed Khamis Gadhafi in a clash Saturday. Rebel clashed with a military convoy near the town of Tarhouna, 50 miles southeast of Tripoli, destroying two vehicles in the convoy. The bodies in the cars were burned beyond recognition, he said, but captured soldiers said they were Khamis Gadhafi’s bodyguards.

“We are sure he is dead,” Col. Boujela Issawi, the rebel commander of Tarhouna, told AP.