Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has escaped a Nato missile strike in Tripoli, but one of his sons and three grandchildren under the age of 12 were killed, a government spokesman said.

Libyan protesters and security forces battled for control of Tripoli’s city centre overnight, with snipers opening fire and Muammar Gaddafi supporters shooting from speeding vehicles, witnesses have said.

A son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is behind a group of foreign and Iraqi fighters responsible for this week’s devastating explosion in northern Iraq, a security chief for Sunni tribesmen who rose up against al-Qaida said today.

A magistrate today acquitted three Kenyan men who had been charged with conspiring to blow up an Israeli-owned hotel and attempting to shoot down an Israeli airliner.