Gaddafi son: Don't let them find me

12 April 2012

Colonel Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam was panic-stricken, confused and obsessed with avoiding capture as he fled the fighting in Libya, it has been revealed.

A bodyguard also said that the former London playboy had been in constant phone contact with his father and narrowly escaped death when his convoy was bombed by Nato warplanes.

Sharif al-Senussi, who was captured in Bani Walid last week, said Saif, 39, went on the run as his father staged a last stand in his home city of Sirte last week. An intense search involving British special forces is under way for him near the border with Niger.

Saif is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court and is the only one of Gaddafi's children still believed to be in Libya.

Speaking from a cell in a makeshift prison near Bani Walid's airport, Senussi told how Saif was in regular contact with his father during his last days. "He was nervous. He had as satellite phone and he called his father many times," he said. He repeated to us, 'Don't tell anyone where I am. Don't let them spot me.' He was afraid of mortars. He seemed confused. We did not really listen carefully to what he said towards the end. We were too busy fighting."

"They (Gaddafi commanders) kept telling us that reinforcements were on their way to Bani Walid, that they were sending more men. But they never did."

Rebel soldiers confirmed the claim that Saif's vehicle was hit as it sought to escape the town 100 miles south-west of Tripoli. "My unit was chasing him on October 19," a commander said. "Then Nato struck his convoy. He was in an armoured vehicle and survived and someone helped him to escape. We searched the area but we lost him there."

Gaddafi's four other surviving children - three sons and a daughter - are already in exile in Algeria and Niger. Niger received millions of dollars of support from Gaddafi and he remains popular in the country, making it a natural sanctuary for fleeing members of his inner circle. Its government has said fugitives would not be turned back to Libya without guarantees for their safety.

Gaddafi and his son Mutassim were buried in a secret desert location yesterday, five days after they were captured, killed and put on public display.

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