Tunisian Authorities Deny Gadhafi Family Members Fled

Authorities in Tunis on Thursday denied reports that members of embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's family, including his wife and daughter, had fled and arrived in Tunisia.

"These reports are totally false," said a government source, stressing that "no member of the Gadhafi family has crossed the Tunisian border" with Libya, where Gadhafi loyalists are fighting to put down a rebellion.

Press reports had in particular said that Gadhafi's wife and daughter, Sofia and Aicha, had arrived in Tunisia.

"Once again, I repeat, these reports are false," added the Tunisian government source, who asked not to be named.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on Monday asked ICC judges to give him international arrest warrants for crimes against humanity against Gadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam and the head of Libyan intelligence service, Abdullah al-Senoussi.

The insurgency in Libya began in February and tens of thousands of people, including foreign immigrant workers, have fled the fighting and crossed the border into Tunisia.