TRIPOLI, Libya — A top official of Libya’s transitional government said Wednesday that its fighters had cornered Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in a desert redoubt 150 miles from the capital and were exhorting the former leader to give up, in what would bring a sense of finality to the prolonged uprising that routed him and his family from Tripoli a week ago.
But Colonel Qaddafi’s fugitive son, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, threw a new if improbable taunt at the rebels even as they said they closed in on his father, vowing in an audio statement that loyalists would never surrender and insisting that “victory will be near.”
“Our leadership is fine,” he said in the statement broadcast on the Al-Rai channel and other Arab broadcasting outlets. “We are drinking tea and coffee.”
Seif al-Islam gave no indication in the statement of his whereabouts, and it was not clear if it had been prerecorded. But the statement itself raised the possibility of prolonged fighting and underscored the ability of the Qaddafis to frustrate the alliance of rebel forces that has become the effective government of Libya.
Earlier Thursday, Abdul Hafith Ghoga, the deputy chairman of the Transitional National Council, said in a telephone interview from his home in Benghazi that fighters believed they had located Colonel Qaddafi hiding in Bani Walid, a desert town southeast of Tripoli.
“Since today we have learned that he is staying in Bani Walid,” Mr. Ghoga said. “We are waiting to give him a chance to surrender.”
There was no way to corroborate Mr. Ghoga’s claim on the location of Colonel Qaddafi, whose ability to outrun the rebel forces that toppled him has prevented them from claiming absolute victory in the Libya conflict, the Arab Spring’s most violent uprising. Previous assertions by rebel forces concerning the whereabouts of Colonel Qaddafi and his family, routed from their Tripoli compound on Aug. 23, have proved premature or false.
The transition government formed by the rebels has given recalcitrant Qaddafi relatives and their loyalists until this Saturday to stop fighting without conditions.
Mr. Ghoga also confirmed reports that another Qaddafi son, Saadi el-Qaddafi, had offered to negotiate a coalition government with the rebels, but that the rebels rejected that out of hand.
Mr. Ghoga laughed out loud when asked about Saadi el-Qaddafi’s overtures. “They have no choice, Qaddafi has no choice, he has to surrender by Saturday.”
Bani Walid, a town of about 50,000 people southeast of Tripoli, is a stronghold of Libya’s largest tribe, the Warfallah, who have traditionally been strong supporters of the regime. Oddly, it is located in the Misurata District, which includes the coastal city of Misurata, a focal point of fierce fighting through much of the six-month rebellion.
Another Qaddafi son, Khamis, was reported killed when he and a group of bodyguards tried to break through a rebel checkpoint on the road to Bani Walid, rebel fighters in the area have told journalists, but his death has never been verified. A rebel spokesman, Col. Ahmed Bani, quoted survivors of that incident as saying they were escorting Khamis, once the head of the feared Khamis Brigade guarding Tripoli, to refuge in Bani Walid.
In addition, there have been unverified reports that Colonel Qaddafi’s second wife, daughter and two of his sons, who fled to Algeria earlier this week, went through Bani Walid, south to the oasis town of Sabha, and then to a remote desert crossing into Algeria. They were granted asylum on humanitarian grounds there earlier this week, infuriating the rebel forces, who have demanded that Algeria repatriate them.
Rebel forces have massed on the outskirts of Bani Walid, but have stopped advancing during a unilateral ceasefire declared by the rebels for the three-day-long Id al-Fitr holiday.
The rebels also have moved closer to the coastal city of Surt, Mr. Qaddafi’s hometown, another one of his rumored refuges.
Mr. Ghoga said the rebel ceasefire has been holding and there have been no reports of major fighting on its first full day.
The call to surrender was earlier rejected by a spokesman for Colonel Qaddafi, Moussa Ibrahim, in a telephone call to The Associated Press headquarters in New York. “No dignified, honorable nation would accept an ultimatum from armed gangs,” the A.P. quoted him as saying.
Rebel officials have expressed hope that their ceasefire would persuade Colonel Qaddafi to surrender and avoid the bloodshed of a last stand. Their announcement of his location may have been calculated to pressure him into taking their Saturday ultimatum seriously.
A spokesman for the NATO operational command in Naples, speaking on condition of anonymity as a matter of alliance policy, said that its operations in Libya were continuing normally. « Our mission continues, our mission is still ongoing as long as there is a threat against civilians. » However, the spokesman refused to confirm specifically whether there were any air strikes on Wednesday.
Mr. Ibrahim told The A.P. that that a missile attack possibly from NATO warplanes had killed 1,000 people in Surt — a tally that could not be independently verified. Throughout the six-month conflict, Colonel Qaddafi’s government has exaggerated the extent of casualties it says have been inflicted by NATO bombings.
As they secure growing acceptance abroad, the rebels’ readiness to press their demands showed the extent to which they have been emboldened by the NATO-backed military advances that helped to sweep them into Tripoli.
At the same time, the rebel leadership, struggling to unite bands of fighters and ensure security in the capital and elsewhere in the country, appeared to reject the need for international peacekeepers. “We don’t now expect military observers to be requested,” said Ian Martin, a United Nations special envoy for post-conflict planning in Libya, Reuters reported. “It’s very clear that the Libyans want to avoid any kind of military deployment of the U.N. or others.”
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