Libyan rebels said on Friday that a former close aide of embattled leader Moamer Gaddafi has defected, in the latest blow to the regime in the capital Tripoli, dpa reported.
Abdul Salam Jalloud, a former prime minister who was once the second man in the Gaddafi regime, has fled Tripoli and joined rebels in the city of Zintan, the opposition Libya Hurra television said.
Jalloud was a close friend of Gaddafi and helped him in the 1969 coup, which brought Gaddafi to power. He was prime minister in the 1970s.
This is the latest of a series of defections by senior officials in the Gaddafi regime. Earlier this week, sources in Tripoli reported that army commander Masoud Abdulhafiz, a close long-time ally of Gaddafi, had defected and probably fled to Egypt.
Gaddafi's interior minister Nasr Mabrouk Abdullah also arrived in Cairo on his private plane, along with nine members of his family on Monday, telling airport security he had come for a "tourism visit."
The defections come amid advances by opposition fighters, who seek to take over Tripoli and oust Gaddafi.
The rebel's National Transitional Council also announced that the rebels there have freed all prisoners from the notorious Abu Salim prison in the capital Friday.
Thousands of political prisoners were killed in this prison around 15 years ago, an outrage that helped propel many Libyans to join the six-month-old rebellion that aims to oust Gaddafi, who has been in power for 42 years.
A Libyan dissident said in remarks published Friday that Gaddafi was seeking to find refuge in Arab countries and had sent a message to the governments of Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria to receive his family.
The representative of the Council in Cairo, Abdel Monem al-Houni, told the pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat: "Gaddafi is looking for a safe haven for his family in the case that Tripoli falls into the hands of the revolutionaries."
Al-Houni served as Gaddafi's chief delegate to the Arab League before defecting and siding with the rebels.
US broadcaster NBC had reported late Thursday that Gaddafi and his family could be leaving for Tunisia within days.
Thirty-one Libyan rebel fighters were killed Friday during clashes with government troops in Zlitan city, the Quryna newspaper reported online.
A doctor in Zlitan, east of Tripoli, said 124 opposition fighters were wounded in the clashes, and that the toll was likely to increase because of the lack of medical supplies.
In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was "optimistic" about the recent progress made by rebel forces.
"I think this is a moment not to be complacent at all, but optimistic that we are getting closer to the future that many of us talked about," Cameron said, after a meeting with Mahmud Nacua, the diplomatic representative of the council, which was recognized by Britain last month.
The Libyan regime Thursday called for an immediate ceasefire and talks, but continued to reject demands for Gaddafi to leave power.
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