Libya rebels say have 'right to kill' Gaddafi

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Libya's rebels said on Wednesday that Muammar Gaddafi is almost certainly in Libya and that they have a 'right to kill' him, while giving the fugitive strongman's remaining troops until Saturday to surrender.

"The information I have is this: it is 80 per cent certain that Gaddafi is still in Libya," Omar Hariri, head of military affairs, said.

Hariri said rebels suspect Gaddafi is hiding either in Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, or in the outskirts of the capital. He stressed, however, that since Libya is in a state of war information changes rapidly.

"We think he is in Libya," Ahmed Darrad, who is charged with overseeing the interior ministry until a new government is elected, said.

"It is our right to kill him," said Darrad.

"He is killing us. He is a criminal and an outlaw. All over the world if the criminal does not surrender, it is the right of law enforcers to kill him."

Catching Gaddafi is a primary goal for the rebels who claim to have overrun most areas of Libya although negotiations are still underway for the surrender of regime loyalists in Sirte, hometown of the strongman.

Gaddafi's wife, daughter and two sons fled to Algeria on Monday but the strongman himself and at least two other sons are widely believed still to be in Libya.

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chief of the rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC), said in an interview published on Wednesday by Egypt's state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, that he wanted Gaddafi arrested alive so he could be put on trial.

"I believe he is in Libya, and I hope he is arrested alive so he can be brought before a fair trial for his crimes against the Libyan people," he said.

Abdel Jalil on Tuesday gave the loyalists until Saturday to surrender or face the 'final battle' of a more than six-month uprising against Gaddafi's autocratic regime.

The rebel leader told reporters in their eastern stronghold of Benghazi the ultimatum was offered to mark the three-day Eid al-Fitr feast that follows the ending on Tuesday night in Libya of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.