TRIPOLI, Libya - Moammar Gadhafi's former prime minister has been arrested in Tunisia, officials said, as Libya's new rulers and NATO warned the fugitive leader and his loyalists that they are running out of places to hide.
Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi was arrested overnight with two other people after they were found without visas in the southern town of Tameghza, near Tunisia's border with Algeria, ministry spokesman Hichem Meddeb said Thursday. The three were appearing in court to face charges of illegal entry into Tunisia, the spokesman said.
Al-Mahmoudi is not among the former Gadhafi allies being sought by the International Criminal Court.
Gadhafi remains at large, and his whereabouts unknown. His supporters remain well-armed and fighting is still raging on three fronts in Libya a month after revolutionary forces seized control of the capital, Tripoli and brought down his regime.
The Canadian general commanding NATO's mission in Libya said that isolated groups of Gadhafi supporters continue to be a threat to local people but are unable to co-ordinate their actions.
Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard said in a conference call with reporters that many Gadhafi forces are surrounded with no way out. On Wednesday, NATO's decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, granted approval to extend the mission for another 90 days. Without an extension, permission for the operation would have expired Sept. 27.
"We are now at a point where I can only urge regime forces to surrender, to bring an end to these activities," Bouchard said.
Despite their isolation, the general said, Gadhafi's forces "are still dangerous ... and violence against the population continues."
Bouchard said he had no idea where Gadhafi was hiding.
Government forces this week have made inroads against Gadhafi loyalists in Sabha, the last major city in Libya's far south on a key road leading to the border with Niger.
"Well, I don't think there are too many places left in Libya for regime forces to go," Bouchard said. "The (Gadhafi) forces are no longer capable of co-ordinated action anywhere in the country. ... What we are now witnessing is tactical, very localized action."
Libya's new rulers insist the holdouts in Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte, Bani Walid and Sabha are die-hard supporters, including many who escaped Tripoli, and believe they have no choice but to resist or face war-crimes charges.
A military spokesman for the National Transitional Council, Col. Ahmed Bani, said the revolutionaries had unconfirmed information that Gadhafi had been in Sabha but escaped.
Bani also warned the holdouts that it was only a matter of time before revolutionary forces secure the country. He claimed former rebels had captured key areas in the southern desert, including the towns of Hun, Waddan, Zalaa and most of Sabha, although they still faced pockets of resistance.
"Resistance is hopeless," he said at a news conference. "Now they are just fighting for themselves, they are not fighting on the tyrant's behalf."
