Gaddafi's son talks up Islamist deal

Muammar Gaddafi's son said his camp was nearing a deal with Islamists within Libya's rebellion to isolate more liberal members of the insurgency, as a seized cargo of government-owned fuel docked in a rebel port.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's comments, in an interview with the New York Times, underscored attempts to exploit divisions within the rebels as they seek to recover from the killing of their military commander and push towards Tripoli on three fronts.

The docking in Benghazi of the Cartagena, a tanker carrying at least 30000 tons of petrol that belongs to the Tripoli government but the rebels are reported to have seized, will boost an insurgency that has won broad international military and diplomatic backing but is struggling to oust Gaddafi.

The UN's peace envoy, who failed to make a breakthrough during a visit to Libya last month, secured unspecified Chinese support for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

But there was no sign of a swift breakthrough in the see-saw conflict, now in its sixth month, which is grinding on through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi said he had made contact with Islamists among the rebels and they would issue a joint statement on their alliance to isolate or wipe out liberals within days, he said.

Gaddafi cracked down firmly on Islamists during his 41 years in power, and many Islamists have sided with more liberal, pro-Western rebels trying to oust him.

But the as-yet-unexplained killing of General Abdel Fattah Younes highlighted potential divisions within the mixed bag of anti-Gaddafi forces.

"The liberals will escape or be killed," said Saif al-Islam. "We will do it together ... Libya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran. So what?" he said. "I know they are terrorists. They are bloody. They are not nice. But you have to accept them," he added of the Islamists.