Gadaffi Spies Were At 'Highest Levels'

The still missing former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had spies at the highest levels of the rebel movement up until the fall of Tripoli, it has emerged.

According to a top-secret document found by the Asian news network Al Jazeera, a briefing for Libyan intelligence mastermind Abdullah Senussi indicates pro Gadaffi spies were operating in the leadership tiers of the rebel movement.

The briefings were found "in a sealed envelope on Senussi's abandoned desk" according to the network, and contained detail of key weapons sites across the Western Mountains, with a focus on the pivotal town of Azzawiya, which proved to be the rebels' gateway into the capital.

The network said: "One of the spies appears to have provided Gaddafi's forces with maps and identified National Transitional Council (NTC) commanders who were to lead the attack on Ghazaya and Azzawiya, together with the forces and vehicles the rebel leaders had available."

The documents also allege that the Libyan rebel fighters using refugee camps on the Libyan border were assited by neighbouring states Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait who smuggled weapons and pick up trucks to rebel fighters.

The news comes following a typically unyielding broadcast from the hiding Gaddafi, who warned that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for a "bloody" battle. The show of defiance came after rebels extended a deadline for the surrender of the fugitive leader's home town.

The rebels, who have been moving troops towards remaining Gaddafi bastions across Libya, have shifted the deadline for the town of Sirte in hopes of avoiding the bloodshed that met their attack on Tripoli.

(DW/GK)