Gadhafi’s family fled to Algeria

TRIPOLI, Libya — Ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s wife and other relatives fled to Algeria Monday, the Algerian foreign ministry said.

The Algerian government said Gadhafi’s wife, daughter, two of his sons and their children entered the neighboring country on Monday. It did not say whether Gadhafi himself was with the family.

It said the U.N. secretary-general and Security Council and the head of Libyan rebel National Transition Council were informed.

The report came as battles raged on two sides of Sirte, the southern city that is the headquarters of Gadhafi’s tribe and his regime’s last major bastion. The rebels were consolidating control of Tripoli, the capital.

Despite effectively ending his rule, the rebels have yet to find Gadhafi or his family members — something that has cast a pall of lingering uncertainty over the opposition’s victory.

The Egyptian news agency MENA, quoting unidentified rebel fighters, had reported from Tripoli over the weekend 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.

Ahmed Jibril, an aide to rebel National Transitional Council head Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said if the report of Ghadafi relatives in Algeria is true, “we will demand that Algerian authorities hand them over to Libya to be tried before Libyan courts.”

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