Regime denies Khamis Gaddafi ‘killed’ in Nato strike

A rebel spokesman said earlier that the air strike had killed 32 Gaddafi loyalists in Zlitan, where Khamis’s elite 32nd Brigade is believed to have been leading the stand to defend the approaches to Tripoli, 160 km (100 miles) away.

But Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim quickly rejected the claim, saying it was a ploy to cover up the killing of a civilian family in Zlitan, a battlefront city where Gaddafi forces are trying to halt the rebel advance on Tripoli.

“It’s false news. This is a dirty trick to cover up their crime in Zlitan and the killing of the al-Marabit family. They invented the news about Mr Khamis Gaddafi in Zlitan to cover up their killing,” he said.

Khamis, 27, is head of Libya‘s 10,000-strong 32nd Brigade, one of Colonel Gaddafi‘s most loyal units, which has been fighting in Zlitan, which lies between the rebel-held city of Misrata and the capital Tripoli.

It is the second time this year that Khamis’s death has been reported.

In March, it was incorrectly claimed that he was killed in a suicide air mission on his barracks.

A Libyan air force pilot crashed his jet into the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli in a kamikaze attack, and Khamis was alleged to have died of burns in hospital.

However, he later appeared on state television surrounded by his supporters.

The British Government said earlier this year that a Nato air strike had killed another of Gaddafi’s sons, Saif al-Arab.