From Adel Darwish in Alexandria 

The Libyan leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, was slightly Wounded last week in an armed attack that killed a female bodyguard, according to Libyans who arrived Alexandria last week. 

Colonel Gaddafi's motorcade was ambushed on June 1 on a coastal road in eastern Libya as he was on his way to Egypt for an official visit, the travellers said. The trip was postponed. 

Diplomats in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, said they had not heard of the incident but confirmed that he was in east Libya and the trip to Egypt was postponed. The colonel had stopped on the road near the town of Dirnah when suspected Muslim militants opened fire on him and his group from surrounding mountains, said the travellers, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

The Libyans said his top bodyguard, Aisha, was shot dead when she shielded the leader. Some seven other guards were seriously wounded, the witnesses said. It was not clear if anyone else died.

Colonel Gaddafi was subject to another assassination attempt in 1989 during a visit by Syrian President Hafez el-Assad when a Muslim attacked him with a sword but was shot dead.