Moscow, Aug 24 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Nicaragua would consider giving asylum to embattled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi if he asks for it, an aide to the Central American country's president told a TV channel.

On being asked whether Nicaragua would offer Gaddafi asylum, Bayardo Arce, President Daniel Ortega's adviser for economic affairs, said: "If someone were to request asylum, we would have to give a positive answer because (Nicaraguan) people were granted asylum when people were being murdered by the Somoza dictatorship."

Anastasio Somoza Garcia (1896-1956) was a Nicaraguan general, president, and dictator from 1936 to 1956.

"I do not know how Gaddafi could get here from Libya, because we do not have an embassy in Libya," Arce told Channel 63 television.

Local media speculated Gaddafi might consider exile in Nicaragua because Ortega has been a vocal supporter of the Libyan leader, recently calling him a "brother" and "friend".

On Wednesday, rebels ransacked Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli, seizing weapons and smashing symbols of his government. His whereabouts remain unknown.