Gaddafi escapes to Algeria?

[This is the headline over a report published today on the Israeli Ynet News website. It reads in part:]

A convoy of six armored vehicles has crossed the Libyan border to Algeria on Saturday night, the Egyptian news agency reported. While it is unclear who was riding in the cars, a rebel forces source estimated that the convoy transported senior Libyan officials – including the embattled leader, Muammar Gaddafi.

The report quoted a Libyan military council source as saying that troops loyal to Gaddafi's regime accompanied the convoy to the border. There was no official confirmation of the claim.

Algeria continues to maintain neutrality in the conflict, as it did throughout Libya's civil war. (...)

Meanwhile, authorities in the West continued to search for Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was convicted in the December 1988 bombing of a US-bound airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland.

They attributed the loss of contact with Megrahi, who had been serving a minimum 27-year prison sentence for the bombing of Pan Am 103, to chaotic conditions in Libya caused by rebels' climactic push to oust Gaddafi. (...)

If Megrahi does not reappear in the relatively near future, it could cause fresh strains in relations between Scotland, Britain, and the United States. US politicians and the Obama administration harshly criticized Scotland's decision to release Megrahi.

[A related Agence France Presse news agency report can be read here.

The truth of this report has now been denied by the Algerian Foreign Ministry.]