Khadafy’s wife, 3 of his children flee to Algeria

The announcement was the first official word on the whereabouts of any of the Khadafys since the patriarchal dictator was routed from his Tripoli fortress by rebel forces a week ago, a decisive turn in the Libyan conflict.

The departure of his relatives from Libya was powerful new evidence that Khadafy has lost control in the six-month-old conflict, the most violent of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Mourad Benmehidi, the Algerian permanent representative to the United Nations, confirmed an Algeria Foreign Ministry announcement that Khadafy’s wife Safiya, daughter Aisha, and two of his sons, Mohammed and Hannibal, had all crossed into Algeria. The spouses of Khadafy’s children and their offspring arrived as well, he said.

The family members entered Algeria through one of the more southerly crossings in the Sahara, arriving in a Mercedes and a bus at 8:45 a.m. local time, Benmehidi said. The exact number of people in the party was unconfirmed, Benmehidi said, but there were “many children.’’

While they were fleeing, one of the women in the party gave birth near the border without any medical equipment, the ambassador said. He had no other details, but he said Khadafy was not with the group. “He was not there, and there is no indication of his intending to go to Algeria,’’ the ambassador said.

The family was allowed in on “humanitarian grounds,’’ he said, and the Algerian government informed the head of the Libyan Transitional National Council, the rebel government in Libya, of its decision. There had been no official request from the Libyans for their return, Benmehidi said.

The whereabouts of Khadafy remain unknown, along with those of his other sons, most notably Seif al-Islam, his second-in-command; Khamis, head of an elite paramilitary brigade; and Muatassim, a militia commander and Khadafy’s national security adviser.

A rebel spokesman said Sunday that Khamis Khadafy may have been killed on Saturday, but that no positive identification had been made.

Khadafy’s vexing vanishing act has been the looming question in Libya since the alliance of Libyan rebels invaded Tripoli on Aug. 20, overran his heavily fortified compound on Aug. 23, and finally established control after days of bloody street fighting.

The rebels have said they will not consider their victory complete until they capture or kill the colonel, who has ruled Libya for 42 years and was the Arab world’s longest-ruling leader.

Algeria is the only North African neighbor of Libya that has not recognized the Transitional National Council as the legitimate new government.

An Algerian Foreign Ministry official said the members of Khadafy’s family who came to Algeria were all in Algiers, the capital. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the situation, noted that none of them had been named in warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for possible war crimes charges, unlike Khadafy himself, his son Seif al-Islam, and his former intelligence chief.

A senior American counterterrorism official said that many American intelligence analysts believe that Khadafy has probably slipped out of Tripoli and is hiding in Surt, his tribal home and one of his government’s last remaining strongholds, about 200 miles east of the capital.

“I suspect he’s in Surt,’’ said the official. “The rebels have Tripoli pretty well covered.’’

But the official and others interviewed in Washington acknowledged that they had only the sketchiest information about Khadafy’s possible location. They say they have even fewer insights into what he might do next, now that members of his family have fled the country.

Rebel forces reported earlier yesterday that they were approaching Surt and were seeking a negotiated surrender of the town, which has also been the target of three consecutive days of NATO bombings.

In Tripoli, rebel leaders took visible new steps toward installing themselves as the country’s official government, signing new energy deals with ENI, Italy’s biggest oil company, and permitting France and Britain - the leading countries in a NATO alliance that assisted the rebel movement - to send advance teams into Tripoli with the intent of reestablishing their embassies in the capital.

Rebel officials, meanwhile, appealed yesterday for NATO forces to continue the air campaign that has greatly weakened Khadafy’s forces, saying they remain a threat.

“I call for continued protection from NATO and its allies from this tyrant,’’ said Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the head of the rebel administration, at a meeting of alliance defense chiefs in Doha, Qatar, yesterday, according to news reports.

NATO seemed intent on continuing its mission, mandated by a United Nations Security Council resolution in March.

“We believe the Khadafy regime is near collapse, and we’re committed to seeing the operation through to its conclusion,’’ said US Admiral Samuel Locklear, the head of NATO’s Joint Operations Command, according to Reuters.

Locklear added that NATO air strikes had destroyed 5,000 military targets in Libya.