Rebels join CIA agents to hunt Gaddafi

A crack team of former rebel soldiers and CIA agents are on the ground in Libya hunting fugitive Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi, the new Tripoli government said today.

The military council said a group of "special forces" had been employed specifically to target the toppled dictator using satellite tracking, phone tapping and intelligence.

Gaddafi's location remains unclear even though the rebels claimed they had him cornered this week. Today, Anis Sharif, spokesman for the new government, said: "We know where he is - it is just a matter of time."

The Ministry of Defence said that no British special forces were involved specifically with the 200-strong squad tracking Gaddafi.

A member of the special forces, speaking anonymously, said troops acting on a tip had stormed a villa on Tripoli's outskirts last week.

The fighter, who took part in the operation, said they believed Gaddafi was in the villa and escaped less than an hour before the raid through a secret tunnel. Computers were on and cups of tea were still warm, he said.

Officials say the most reliable reports, culled from witnesses and informants, put the fugitive leader in or near one of three remaining strongholds of loyalist support - his hometown of Sirte on the Mediterranean, the city of Bani Walid south-east of Tripoli, or the city of Sabha deep in the southern desert.

Gaddafi has dismissed rumours he had fled Libya, saying on Syrian TV that he would never leave the "land of his ancestors" and urging his supporters to carry on the fight.