Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was offered an ultimatum to surrender by Saturday or to face military force.
Deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was offered an ultimatum to surrender by Saturday or to face military force.
Head of National Transitional Council (NTC) Mustafa Abdul Jalil announced the ultimatum applied to Gaddafi’s forces in his hometown of Sirte and in other towns.
At a news conference in Benghazi, Abdul Jalil said that if there was no "peaceful indication" by Saturday that Gaddafi-loyalists intended to surrender, "we will decide this manner militarily".
"We do not wish to do so but we cannot wait longer," he said.
Furthermore, Abdul Jalil said the NTC had decided no foreign troops were needed in Libya battles.
"We are betting on our youths and we are certain our bet will pay off," he said, adding that he had spoken to NATO in this issue.
GADDAFI “NOT FINISHED YET”
The NTC Chief also warned that Gaddafi was "not finished yet".
"The danger that is threatening the revolution and the Libyan people still exists. Gaddafi has support and partisans" inside and outside Libya, he said.
The whereabouts of the elusive man remain unknown, with suggestions he may be in Sabha, Sirte or Bani Walid.
Along with Sirte, Sabha is one of the main remaining bastions of pro-Gaddafi forces.
Reports said that Gaddafi's wife and three of his adult children fled to neighboring Algeria.
Algeria has defended the move, which the NTC called an "act of aggression".
TENS OF THOUSANDS KILLED DURING UPRISING
On the other hand, a rebel military commander said that 50,000 people were killed during the uprising in the African country.
"About 50,000 people were killed since the start of the uprising," said Colonel Hisham Buhagiar, commander of rebel fighters who advanced out of the Western Mountains and took Tripoli a week ago.
"In Misrata and Zlitan between 15,000 and 17,000 were killed and Jebel Nafusa (the Western Mountains) took a lot of casualties. We liberated about 28,000 prisoners. We presume that all those missing are dead,” Buhagiar told Reuters news agency.
"Then there was Ajdabiyah, Brega. Many people were killed there too," he said, referring to towns repeatedly fought over in eastern Libya.
‘SAADI GADDAFI WILLING TO SURRENDER’
For his part, a senior NTC official said the third son of Gaddafi, Saadi, was willing to give himself up.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Channel, Abdelhakim Belhaj, the NTC's military leader in Tripoli, said that Saadi called him and asked if he can surrender.
Belhaj said that Saadi didn’t want to leave Libya, but he wanted to talk to the national council and negotiate his surrender.
He added that he could know the whereabouts o Saadi from the phone call.
