Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is rumoured to be among a convoy that has fled across the Niger-Libya border as forces anti the toppled leader plan to peacefully take hold of Bani Walid, reports have said.
Al Jazeera television reports that new regime forces are to enter the pro-Gaddafi town south of Tripoli without fighting around midday after a deal was struck earlier.
The National Transitional Council (NTC) reportedly negotiated a peaceful handover with the town's tribal elders.
The deal comes a day after the council gave areas loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, including Jufra, Sabha and the former Libyan leader's birthplace in Sirte, another week to surrender and avoid bloodshed.
As negotiations were made and the new regime forces were poised to strike at Col Gaddafi's last bastions, reports emerged that 11 members of the toppled dictactor's entourage, including security chief Mansour Daw, had fled across the border.
There were unconfirmed reports the colonel, whose whereabouts have remained a mystery, was among the group.
But his spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, insisted Col Gaddafi remained in Libya and that he and his sons were ready to fight to the death.
Bani Walid is one of Col Gaddafi's last strongholds. It is home to the powerful Warfala tribe of about one million people, who had remained loyal to the ousted regime.
Col Gaddafi's most high-profile son, Saif al Islam, reportedly fled to the town soon after the fall of Tripoli.
On Monday, NTC negotiator Mahmoud Abdul Azil said anti-Gaddafi forces were just six miles (10km) away from Bani Walid and moving forward, ready to attack what he said were about 100 pro-Gaddafi fighters there, if necessary.
But he added: "Hopefully it will be done without bloodshed."
Meanwhile, the grim toll from the months of conflict in Libya continues to slowly emerge.
A doctor at a Tripoli hospital told Sky News she believes as many as 30,000 men are missing.
Dr Aman Said Hamad said she feared they might never be traced - believing many were now dead.
Many relatives of Libya's "disappeared" have begun posting pictures of their loved ones at hospitals as it is only now, with the fall of Gaddafi's regime, that they can hope to find them.
The father of a boy injured in a grenade blast at his school who is receiving treatment at the hospital also told Sky News how doctors cannot cope with caring for all the injured.
Rashid Ahmed said his maimed son Abdul, 15, needed surgery on his limbs but resources were scarce.
Source: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rebels-enter-pro-gaddafi-town-deal-053125480.html
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