Muammar Gadafy is believed to be hiding near the western Libyan town of Ghadamis under the protection of Touareg tribesmen, a senior Libyan military official said.
"One tribe, the Touareg, is still supporting him and he is believed to be in the Ghadamis area in the south," Hisham Buhagiar, a senior military official of the Libya's new leadership, told Reuters last night.
Mr Buhagiar, co-ordinator of the hunt for Col Gadafy, said the ousted Libyan leader was believed to have been in the southern town of Samnu a week ago before moving to Ghadamis, which lies 550km southwest of Tripoli.
He said Col Gadafy's son Saif al-Islam was in Bani Walid and another son, Mutassem, was in Sirte, the family's home town. "They are both thinking about leaving Libya maybe to Niger," Mr Buhagiar added.
Sirte, one of the last bastions of support for Col Gadafy, is encircled by forces of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council and under bombardment from Nato warplanes.
Taking Sirte, 450km east of Tripoli, would bring the council closer to gaining control of the whole country, a goal that has eluded it more than a month after its fighters seized the capital.
Mr Buhagiar said most tribes in the south were against Col Gadafy except for the Touareg, who still supported him.
"There has been a fight between Touareg tribesmen who are loyal to Gadafy and Arabs living there [in the south]. We are negotiating. The Gadafy search is taking a different course," he said, without elaborating.
Col Gadafy's daughter Aisha, brothers Hannibal and Mohammed, their mother Safia and several other family members fled to Algeria in August and have lived there since.
Reuters