Libya rebels claim Kadhafi son killed

One of Moamer Kadhafi's sons, Khamis, was killed in an overnight Nato strike on an operations centre in the western town of Zliten, along with about 32 other people, Libya's rebel forces said Friday.

Reuters/Caren Firouz

Citing spies operating among Kadhafi's ranks, Mohammed Zawawi, a spokesperson for revolutionary militia groups, told the AFP news agency that Khamis was confirmed to be among the dead.

Khamis, who has long led pro-government militia fighters, was said to be commanding the battle for Zliten, a Kadhafi stronghold that has halted the rebel advance on Tripoli.

A few hours earlier pro-Kadhafi forces took journalists on an escorted tour of the centre of Zliten, in an attempt to disprove rebel claims the town was under attack.

Residents said the frontline is located at a distance of 10 to15 kilometres east of the city centre while rebel official said they control three neighbourhoods in the town's east.

Earlier:

• The regime accused rebels of sabotaging a pipeline in the Jebel Nefussa region, south-east of Tripoli;
• Another of Kadhafi’s sons, Seif al-Islam, told the New York Times that he has forged an alliance with Islamist rebels against the secular and "moderate" insurgents, although Islamist leader Ali Sallabi, whom he named, denied the claim;
• A group of 28 tribes and civil actors met the National Transitional Council to demand a full and transparent investigation into the death of rebel military chief, General Abdel Fatah Yunis;
• A captured oil tanker, the Cartagena, steamed into Benghazi after being intercepted with the help of Nato;
• The international operation is not “bogged down”, according to French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé, although, he conceded, “We probably underestimated the resistance that would by put up by Kadhafi’s forces”.