A large military convoy from Libya arrived in the northern Niger city of Agadez late Monday, a military source told AFP.
"I saw an exceptionally large and rare convoy of several dozen vehicles enter Agadez from Arlit... and go towards Niamey," the source said, amid speculation that toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi may be in it.
"There are persistent rumours that Gaddafi or one of his sons are travelling in the convoy," the source said.
A journalist from a private radio station in Agadez said he saw "a convoy of several dozen vehicles crossing the city and heading towards Niamey", the Niger capital.
The journalist said several people reported seeing in the convoy Rhissa Ag Boula, a figurehead Tuareg rebel in Niger who is close to Gaddafi.
Ag Boula is a native of Niger who led a failed war of independence on behalf of ethnic Tuareg nomads a decade ago. He then sought refuge in Libya and was believed to be fighting on behalf of Gaddafi.
The toppled Libyan leader is known to have used battalions of Tuareg fighters who have long-standing ties to Gaddafi. His regime is believed to have financed the Tuareg rebellion in the north of Niger.
African nations where Tuaregs represent a significant slice of the population, like Niger, have been among the last to recognise the rebels that ousted Gaddafi.
Gaddafi remains especially popular in towns like Agadez, where a majority of the population is Tuareg and where the ex-ruler is remembered for his largesse and for his assistance to the Tuareg minority during their fight for autonomy.
Harouna says the pro-Gaddafi soldiers accompanying Boula were coming from the direction of Arlit. The desert that stretches north of Arlit borders both Libya and Algeria. Some members of Gaddafi's
family, including his wife, his daughter and two of his sons, recently sought refuge in Algeria.
Another Nigerien government source earlier said prominent regime officials had fled across the border on Sunday. They included Gaddafi's internal security chief Mansour Daw, who was earlier reported to be in the loyalist stronghold Bani Walid with at least two of the fallen strongman's sons.
