Libyan leader Gaddafi survives Nato air strike, son killed

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a Nato air strike that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren and destroyed a Tripoli house, a Libyan government spokesman said on Saturday.

"What we have now is the law of the jungle," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a news conference. "We think now it is clear to everyone that what is happening in Libya has nothing to do with the protection of civilians."

Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, is fighting an uprising by rebels who have seized much of the eastern part of the country. British and French-led Nato forces are permitted under a United Nations resolution to attack Gaddafi forces to protect civilians.

There was no immediate Nato reaction or independent confirmation of the incident.

Libya's government took journalists to the house, which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in in some areas, leaving mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging down among chunks of concrete.

A table football machine stood outside in the garden of the house, which was in a wealthy residential area of Tripoli.

The blasts had been heard across the city late on Saturday. Rifle fire and car horns rang out in the rebels' eastern capital of Benghazi as news of the attack spread.

Authorities said Gaddafi's youngest son, Saif al-Arab, had been killed in the attack. Saif al-Arab is one of Gaddafi's less prominent sons, with a limited role in the Tripoli power structure.

Ibrahim said Saif al-Arab, 29, was a student who had studied in Germany.

"We will fight and fight if we have to," Ibrahim said. "The leader offered peace to Nato yesterday and Nato rejected it."

source: Reuters