Gaddafi 'did not join Niger convoy'

A senior member of Muammar Gaddafi’s inner circle slipped into Niger along with three carloads of collaborators, an official said, but the toppled Libyan leader was not among them nor were any members of his immediate family.

Massoudou Hassoumi, a spokesman for the president of this landlocked African nation which shares a border with Libya, said that Gaddafi’s security chief had crossed the desert accompanied by a major Tuareg rebel.