Algeria announced on Monday that Qaddafi’s wife, two of his sons and his daughter had crossed into its territory, prompting Libya’s ruling interim council to demand that they be handed back to face trial.
Algeria’s El Watan newspaper, quoting diplomatic sources, said an instruction had gone out to security services to close the southern part of the border with Libya, because of the “precarious situation” in Libya.
The Algerian government could not immediately be reached for comment. Algeria’s border with Libya is hundreds of kilometers long and stretches through vast expanses of empty desert.
Algerian officials say they are concerned that Islamist militants have infiltrated Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC), and that Al-Qaeda’s North African wing will exploit the chaos in Libya to acquire weapons and explosives.
The NTC has angrily denied those charges and in turn accuses Algeria of siding with Muammar Qaddafi during Libya’s civil war, something the Algerian authorities deny. The whereabouts of Qaddafi, deposed by the NTC after 42 years in power, are unknown.
