Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi offered a half million-dinar reward ($410,900) for the capture of a top opposition leader, former justice minister Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, Libyan TV-channel said on Wednesday.
The bounty would be paid "to whoever captures and hands over" the "agent spy" Abdul-Jalil, and "200,000 Libyan dinars ($164,300) to whoever offers information leading to his actual arrest."
Inspired by the recent overthrow of authoritarian regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, Gaddafi's opponents are demanding an end to his 42-year rule. International human rights organizations said about 6,000 people have been killed since the anti-Gaddafi protests began on February 15. The UN said the death toll ranged from 1,000 to 2,000 people.
Libya is confronting an attempt by the Al Qaeda terrorist network to destabilize the situation there and in another Arab countries, Gaddafi claimed on Wednesday in an interview with the Turkish TRT media holding.
Gaddafi has already blamed the unrest on Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, who he said were seeking to turn Libya into a state resembling Afghanistan or Somalia.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution on February 26 on "targeted measures" against the current Libyan government. The sanctions include a total arms embargo, travel bans and freezing of accounts held by the country's leadership.
A UN resolution on the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace is to be debated by NATO defense ministers later this week. Russia has said it is against all military intervention.
MOSCOW, March 9 (RIA Novosti)
