Anotrher defection? Libya's interior minister, Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah has flown to Cairo with his family

More bad news for the Libyan regime following reports that the regime's interior minister, Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah and nine members of his family have flown into Cairo on their private plane raising suspicions as to what appears to be the highest-level defection from Muammar Al Qathafi's regime in months.

Secrecy surrounds the Libyan minister's arrival in Cairo, with Egyptian airport officials reported by APsaying that Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah had entered the country on a tourist visa.

No Libyan embassy officials greeted him at the airport, and the news agency said that an embassy official said that they were not aware of Abdullah's plans to visit Egypt. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The minister, who flew in from Tunisia, which borders Libya, certainly did not take his family to Cairo on a holiday when Libya is facing such a crisis with the rebels making daily gains against the regime.

The apparent defection came days after Libya's rebels made their most dramatic advances in months in western towns and cities close to the capital, Tripoli and are now only a half-an-hour's drive from the capital, 40 kilometres away.

Omar Obeid, field commander for the Sabratha area 20 miles west of Zawiyah on the coast, said rebels had taken up positions in houses along a major supply route that connected the Ras Jadir border crossing with Tunisia to Tripoli.

The same road runs through Zawiyah, where rebels could also block it if they manage to take full control of the city. The rebels said they had also captured the town of Surman, near Sabratha, to the south-east.