Libya: Rebels Claim Khamis Gaddafi, One Of Col Gaddafi’s Sons, Is Killed In An Air Strike
Rebel commanders say one of Colonel Gaddafi’s most feared sons has been killed in an air strike 60km away from Tripoli - as it emerges other members of the dictator’s family have fled to Algeria.
Khamis Gaddafi is said to have been in an armoured Toyota Land Cruiser when it was reportedly blasted off the road by a missile apparently launched from a Nato Apache helicopter.
Sky’s chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, who is at the scene in Tarunah, southeast of the capital, said a man claiming to be Khamis’ bodyguard confirmed that he had died in the vehicle.
The explosion incinerated the 4x4 and was so intense it set nearby trees on fire, Ramsay reports.
A senior rebel officer in Tripoli said Khamis had been badly wounded and taken to hospital, where he died of his wounds.
Meanwhile, the Algerian foreign minister has said the dictator’s wife and three of his other children had escaped to the country earlier today.
The rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC), which is in the process of forming an administration to run the country, has said such sheltering of Col Gaddafi’s family members was an “act of aggression”.
It said it would seek the extradition of wife Saifa, daughter Aisha and sons Mohammed and Hannibal.
The British Foreign Office said it was aware of the situation, which it said was “a matter for the NTC”.
Mahmoud Shamman, spokesman for the NTC, said: “We are warning anybody not to shelter Gaddafi and his sons. We are going after them in any place to find them and arrest them.”
[…]