The government of Niger has confirmed that Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saadi, has entered the country and it has him under surveillance.
Niger is in contact with Libya's interim National Transitional Council and was assessing what to do next both with him and other Libyans linked to the Gaddafi government who have crossed into the country in recent days.
A Niger cabinet official said last week that the country would respect its commitments to the International Criminal Court if Gaddafi or his sons entered the country.
At least two former senior Libyan officials have been placed "under control" in the northern desert city of Agadez, but a Niger official stressed that they were accepted into the country on humanitarian grounds.
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said that the alliance will continue its military operations in Libya while the threat to civilians persists, but did not see the alliance playing a major role in post-conflict Libya.
The NATO head told a conference in London that pockets of resistance remained despite the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi last month after a six-month uprising.
"We stand ready to continue our operations as long as necessary," he said.
Gen Rasmussen also said he had no knowledge of Gaddafi's whereabouts, and that it was not a factor in deciding future operations.
"I have no knowledge of Gaddafi's whereabouts. His possible capture is not an element in whether we decide to continue operations (in Libya)," he said.
Forces loyal to Gaddafi continued to fight against armed supporters of Libya's National Transitional Council, the de facto rulers of the country.
Fierce street-by-street fighting was reported in the Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid, where NATO warplanes could be heard overhead, 150km southeast of the capital.
Pro-Gaddafi forces also attacked the front gate of an oil refinery near the Libyan coastal town of Ras Lanuf overnight, killing 15 guards and injuring two, witnesses said.
"About 14 to 15 trucks came in from the direction of (Gaddafi-held) Sirte towards Ras Lanuf," said refinery worker Ramadan Abdel Qader, who was shot in the foot during the assault.
"We heard firing and shelling at around 9 in the morning from Gaddafi loyalists," he told Reuters news agency.
Mr Qader said he and his colleagues had been sleeping when the pro-Gaddafi forces attacked the refinery.
The refinery is controlled by the NTC.
A Reuters reporter saw the dead bodies of 15 men with gunshot wounds at a Ras Lanuf hospital where the injured were being treated.
The refinery, called the "Ras Lanuf Factory for Production of Oil and Gas," was not fully operational. Around 60 staff were there when it was attacked, witnesses said.
"The aim of this attack was to scare the guards and the fighters and hinder the production of oil," said Mohamed el-Ferjany, an engineer at the refinery who was not present during the attack.
Libya's interim prime minister said yesterday that oil production had restarted at an undisclosed location, promising that more of it would come online in the "near future".
