Report: Libya's ex-No. 2 leaves Tunisia for Italy
By Associated Press
Aug 20, 2011 8:06 AM CDT
File - Libya's leader Moammar Gadhafi gives a speech on the formation of S.P.L.A.J., (Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jemahiriyeh) while at right stands Prime Minister Abdel Salam Jalloud, in this April 1977 file photo near Tripoli, Libya. Libyan rebels say Friday Aug. 19 2011 that a close Moammar...   (Associated Press)

Tunisia's official TAP news agency says a former top aide of embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has left the island of Djberba for Italy after apparently defecting.

Abdel-Salam Jalloud's flight took off from the Djerba airport early Saturday, the report said, without providing any details. Rebels attempting to oust Gadhafi have said Jalloud has defected.

Jalloud helped Gadhafi stage the 1969 coup that propelled him to power. He was Gadhafi's most trusted deputy for two decades and the regime's No. 2 official but began to clash with the leader in the 1990s.

The TAP report added that another top Libyan official, Oil Minister Omrane Boukraa, has not returned to Libya following a mission to Italy. He was expected to return home on Thursday.