NATO strike kills Gadhafi's son but leader escapes

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi escaped a NATO missile strike in Tripoli that killed one of his sons and three young grandchildren, a government spokesman said early Sunday. Hours later, Gadhafi's forces shelled a besieged rebel port in a sign that the airstrike had not forced a change in regime tactics.

NATO's attack on a Gadhafi family compound in a residential area of Tripoli late Saturday signaled escalating pressure on the Libyan leader who has tried to crush an armed rebellion that erupted in mid-February.

In this photo taken on a government organized tour, ruins of a house are seen at the site of a NATO missile attack in Tripoli, Libya, Saturday, April 30, 2011. Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi survived a NATO missile strike Saturday that killed his youngest son, 
Saif al-Arab Gadhafi and three grandchildren and wounded friends and relatives, Libya's spokesman said. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

The alliance acknowledged that it had struck a "command and control building," but insisted all its targets are military in nature and linked to Gadhafi's systematic attacks on the population.

Libyan officials denounced the attack as a crime and violation of international law. However, British Prime Minister David Cameron, without confirming fatalities, told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the strike was in line with a U.N. mandate to prevent "a loss of civilian life by targeting Gadhafi's war-making machine."

The attack struck the house of one of Gadhafi's younger sons, Seif al-Arab, when the Libyan leader and his wife were inside, said Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim. Seif al-Arab, 29, and three of Gadhafi's grandchildren, all younger than 12, were killed.

Journalists taken to the walled complex of one-story buildings saw heavy bomb damage. The blast had torn down the ceiling of one building. Dust and smoke rose from the rubble, which included household items such as smashed toilet bowls, bathroom sinks and furniture among the broken walls and demolished floors.

When news of the deadly strike spread, rebels honked horns and chanted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great" while speeding through the western city of Misrata, which Gadhafi's forces have besieged and subjected to random shelling for two months, killing hundreds. Fireworks were set off in front of the central Hikma hospital, causing a brief panic that the light would draw fire from Gadhafi's forces.

On Sunday morning, Gadhafi's troops shelled Misrata's port as a Maltese aid ship, the Mae Yemanja, unloaded food and medical supplies, said Ahmed al-Misalati, a truck driver helping move the cargo.

"We were still working this morning when they started firing rockets," said al-Misalati. "Some fell in the ocean, some on the pavement, some in the warehouses, and in the water in front of the boat."

The boat quickly embarked back to sea, he said.

Last week, regime loyalists attempted to mine Misrata's harbor to close the besieged city's only link to the world.

NATO warplanes have been carrying out airstrikes in Libya for the past month as part of a U.N. mandate to protect Libyan civilians.

The commander of the NATO operation, Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, said he was aware of unconfirmed reports that some Gadhafi family members may have been killed and he regretted "all loss of life, specially the innocent civilians being harmed as a result of the ongoing conflict."

Seif al-Arab Gadhafi, was one of the youngest of Gadhafi's seven sons and brother of the better known Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, who had been touted as a reformist before the uprising began in mid-February. The younger Gadhafi had spent much of his time in Germany in recent years.

Gadhafi's children had been increasingly engaged in covering up scandals fit for a soap opera, including negative publicity from extravagant displays of wealth such as a million-dollar private concert by pop diva Beyonce, according to a batch of diplomatic cables released by the secret-spilling WikiLeaks website.

Seif al-Arab, who studied and partied for years in Munich, had several run-ins with law enforcement there.

In 2007, he even saw his house and hotel suite raided by police over allegations of illegally possessing weapons despite his claims of enjoying diplomatic immunity.

Between November 2006 and July 2010 police led investigations against Gadhafi's son on ten accounts, ranging from speeding incidents to bodily harm and possession of illegal weapons, Bavaria's state justice ministry confirmed last month.

All the investigations against him, however, were dropped.

German media reported that Gadhafi's son returned to Libya in February and Bavaria's Interior Ministry later said he had been declared a persona-non-grata.

Moammar Gadhafi and his wife were in Seif al-Arab's house in the capital's Garghour neighborhood when it was hit by at least one bomb dropped from a NATO warplane, according to Ibrahim.

Seif al-Arab "was playing and talking with his father and mother and his nieces and nephews and other visitors when he was attacked for no crimes committed," Ibrahim said.

The government spokesman said the airstrike was an attempt to "assassinate the leader of this country," which he said violated international law.

"The leader himself is in good health," Ibrahim said.

In addition to his eight biological children, Gadhafi also had an adopted daughter who was killed in a 1986 U.S. airstrike on his Bab al-Aziziya residential compound — retaliation for the bombing attack on a German disco in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. The U.S. at the time blamed Libya for the disco blast.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a Gadhafi ally, condemned Saturday's deadly strike, calling foreign military intervention in Libya "madness." He said he believes "they order they've given is to kill Gadhafi.

In Misrata, rebel fighters were rejoicing.

Standing outside an improvised triage unit in a tent in the parking lot, Medic Abdel-Moneim Ibsheir considered the strike a form of justice.

"Gadhafi was not far away, meaning he's not safe," he said as occasional explosions could be heard throughout the embattled city. "It's just like our children getting hit here. Now his children are getting hit there."

Eleven dead had reached the hospital morgue by midnight Saturday, including two brothers, ages 11 and 16. Two more had arrived by 1:30 a.m., and four more at another hospital.

In Tripoli, dozens danced, waved and clapped in unison at the Bab al-Aziziya compound early Sunday to show support for the regime. Heavy bursts of gunfire were heard in Tripoli after the attack.

The fatal airstrike came just hours after Gadhafi called for a mutual cease-fire and negotiations with NATO powers to end a six-week bombing campaign.

In a rambling pre-dawn speech Saturday, Gadhafi said "the door to peace is open."

He also railed against foreign intervention, saying Libyans have the right to choose their own political system, but not under the threat of NATO bombings.

In Brussels, a NATO official said before Saturday's fatal strike that the alliance needed "to see not words but actions," and vowed the alliance would keep up the pressure until the U.N. Security Council mandate on Libya is fulfilled.

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