Gaddafi son 'killed in air strike'

Muammar Gaddafi’s youngest son has been killed in a Nato air strike, according to unconfirmed reports received by Libyan rebels.

Rebel spokesman Mohammad al-Rajali says the reports have Khamis Gaddafi as being among 33 troops killed in a Nato strike early today on a government operations centre in the western town of Zlitan.

Officials in the Libyan capital Tripoli could not be reached for comment.

Khamis is a major commander in his father’s military forces and his death would be a blow to government efforts to crush the rebels.

In April, the Libyan government reported that Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Arab was killed, along with three of Gaddafi’s grandchildren in a Nato air strike against his house in Tripoli.

Nato says there has been bombing around Zlitan on Thursday.

An alliance spokesman in Brussels said today that Nato could not verify the report.

Zlitan is 140 kms south-east of Tripoli. Khamis runs Libya’s 32nd Brigade, which has been fighting the rebels in Zlitan.