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Locating Gaddafi would help seal the new rulers' hold on the country. The announcement came after convoys of Gaddafi loyalists, including his security chief, fled across the Sahara into Niger in a move that Libya's former revolutionaries hoped could help lead to the surrender of his last strongholds.
Some former revolutionaries depicted the flight to Niger as a major exodus of Gaddafi's most hardcore backers.
But confirmed information on the number and identity of those leaving was scarce given the vast swath of desert - over 1,600km - between populated areas on the two sides of the border.
Security chief
In Niger's capital, Niamey, Massoudou Hassoumi, a spokesman for the president said Gaddafi's security chief had crossed the desert into Niger on Monday accompanied by a major Tawareq revolutionary.
The government of Niger dispatched a military convoy to escort Mansour Dao, the former commander of Libya's Revolutionary Guards who is a cousin of Gaddafi as well as a member of his inner circle, to Niamey.
Reports denied
Dao is the only senior Libyan figure to have crossed into Niger, said Hassoumi, who denied reports that Gaddafi or any member of his immediate family were in the convoy.
Hassoumi said the group of nine people also included several pro-Gaddafi businessmen, as well as Agaly ag Alambo, a tawareq fighter leader from Niger who led a failed uprising in the country's north before crossing into Libya, where he was believed to be fighting for Gaddafi.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters, "We don't have any evidence that Gaddafi is anywhere but in Libya at the moment".
