Rebel Commander: Libyan Foreign Minister Arrested

Libyan rebels on Wednesday arrested foreign minister Abdelati al-Obeidi, a key figure of Moammar Gadhafi's regime, a senior rebel commander said.

"Yes, Abdelati al-Obeidi was arrested," Mahdi al-Harati, vice chairman of the rebel military council, told journalists in the capital without giving further details.

"We've heard that he was arrested today, near Janzur," a suburb west of Tripoli, Mohammed Elkish, a media liaison official for the National Transitional Council, told Agence France Presse.

Obeidi became foreign minister following the defection of Mussa Kussa on March 31. Many high-ranking officials turned their backs on Gadhafi's regime after demonstrations that erupted in mid-February escalated into all-out war.

Seif al-Islam, the fugitive son of Gadhafi, said on Wednesday in an audio tape on Damascus-based Arabic-language channel Al-Rai that he was still in Tripoli and the fight against rebels goes on.

"I am talking to you from a suburb of Tripoli," he said. "We want to reassure the Libyan people that we are still here. The resistance continues and victory is near."