Friday, Sep 30, 2011

SIRTE, Libya (AFP)--There were growing doubts Friday that the vocal spokesman for fugitive Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi had been captured after reports he had been seized while disguised as a woman, complete with veil.

Libya's new rulers were probing the whereabouts of Mussa Ibrahim, the public voice of Gadhafi's fallen regime, as one television channel said it would air footage of him being detained in women's clothing.

National Transitional Council (NTC) commanders said they had received reports from fighters on the ground that Ibrahim had been seized outside Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, where his loyalists have been under siege for the past week.

But the fighters' high command in Libya's third-largest city Misrata said it was unable to confirm the capture of Ibrahim, who has kept up a steady stream of pro-Gadhafi broadcasts from unknown locations while on the run.

"Misrata fighters contacted us and gave us the information that Mussa Ibrahim has been captured," said Mustafa bin Dardef of the NTC's Zintan Brigade.

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

Libya's Al-Hurra Misrata television said it would broadcast footage of Ibrahim's capture, adding that the images showed him being detained in the back of a car outside Sirte wearing a veil.

However, a spokesman for the Misrata military council, Adel Ibrahim, told AFP: "If the Misrata fighters had captured him, they would have told us."

Council member Juma bin Wafa, who was in the operations room until 4:00 am (0200 GMT), said: "I have heard nothing about this."

And a pro-Gadhafi website also denied his long-time spokesman had been taken.

"Mussa Ibrahim has not been captured," the website of the former state television channel Allibiya said.

"This is a mendacious rumour aimed at distracting attention from the rebels'... defeat at the hands of the heroic forces in Sirte."

Since NTC fighters overran Tripoli on August 23, Ibrahim has continued to issue statements through Syrian-based Arrai television from an unknown location, although not so frequently in recent days.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

30-09-11 1139GMT