ROME - Libya's embattled leader Muammar Gadhafi will either flee the country or will be captured but is unlikely to surrender, Libyan ambassador to Rome, Abdulhafed Gaddur, told a local radio on Tuesday.

"Gadhafi's surrender is very unlikely, as he should have turned himself in earlier when the international community offered him several ways out," Gaddur told public radio station Rai Radio1.

"He will escape from Libya or will be captured alive," Gaddur added.

Libyan rebels seeking to overthrow Gadhafi in a bloody six-month-long civil war said on Monday they had taken control of most of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

So far, Gadhafi's whereabouts were still unknown. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Tuesday Gadhafi is still in his bunker in Tripoli, where fighting is going on.

Gadhafi has not been seen in public for months, although he has broadcast audio messages from undisclosed location.