Libya's revolutionary forces claim they have captured Muatassim Gaddafi, son of the deposed leader, as he tried to flee from Sirte. The unconfirmed reports come as loyalists hold out in just two small pockets of Gaddafi's home town. A Libyan spokesman said revolutionary forces have captured some fighters close to one of Gaddafi's sons in the fugitive leader's hometown but that he has no information that the son himself has been seized. Jalal Al-Gallal, a spokesman for the National Transitional Council in the eastern city of Benghazi, said Wednesday that his office called commanders in the besieged city of Sirte and “so far as we are concerned there is no confirmation that Muatassim Gadhafi has been captured.” Al-Gallal was commenting on reports that the son had been seized, which prompted heavy celebratory gunfire in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi. Anti-Gaddafi fighters have been closing in on armed supporters of the fugitive leader in Sirte, the most important of two major cities yet to be cleared of loyalists more than two months after the fall of Tripoli. Libyan officials have said they believe Muatassim Gaddafi and other high-level former regime figures are hiding in Sirte and that is the reason for the fierce resistance. He was Libya's national security adviser and had a strong role in the military and security forces under his father's regime. Other NTC sources said Muatassim was taken to Benghazi where he was questioned at the Boatneh military camp where he is being held. He was uninjured but exhausted. “He was arrested today in Sirte,” Colonel Abdullah Naker told Reuters on Wednesday. Hundreds of NTC fighters took to the streets in several Libyan cities and fired shots in the air in celebration. Gaddafi loyalists have fought tenaciously for weeks in Sirte, one of just two major towns where they still have footholds, two months after rebels seized the capital Tripoli. NTC foot soldiers cleaned their weapons and began to move up to the front line in Sirte Thursday while tanks and rocket launchers bombarded the remaining small pockets of resistance. It was not yet clear whether resistance would crumble from the Gaddafi loyalist side now that Mo'tassim had been captured, or whether his remaining troops would fight on, or whether they were even aware of the news. Muatassim belonged to a conservative camp —rooted in the military and security forces — which resisted his brother Saif Al-Islam's reform attempts, analysts said. A senior NTC military official told Reuters that Mo'tassim had cut his usually long hair shorter to disguise himself. Gaddafi and his most politically prominent son, Saif Al-Islam, have been on the run since the fall of Tripoli in August. Gaddafi himself is believed to be hiding somewhere far to the south in the vast Libyan desert. His daughter Aisha, her brothers Hannibal and Mohammed, their mother Safi and several other family members fled to Algeria in August and have lived their since. Another son, Saadi, is in Niger.
