Gadhafi’s son Khamis ‘killed’ in Bani Walid

TRIPOLI

A Libyan congress spokesman has confirmed Khamis’ death. AP photo

Khamis Gadhafi, the youngest son of the former Libyan dictator, was reportedly killed during fighting in the town of Bani Walid, a year to the day when rebel forces killed his father, The Guardian has reported.

Libyan national congress spokesman, Omar Hamdan, said the 28-year-old was killed “in battle,” but gave no further details. Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur wrote on Twitter that his body had been found in a Misrata hospital.

Khamis was said to have been killed by a NATO airstrike in August 2011, but this was never verified.
Confusion also surrounded the fate of one of Gadhafi’s most-wanted former aides Mussa Ibrahim, amid clashes in a former bastion of Gadhafi that killed at least 26 people.

The government announced Oct. 20 that Ibrahim, mouthpiece of the toppled regime, had been captured in the western town of Tarhuna, between Bani Walid and Tripoli. A government spokesman later said there was no confirmation of the capture and an audiotape surfaced on the Internet purportedly with Ibrahim himself denying the report. Fierce fighting erupted on Oct. 20 as pro-government forces pushed closer to Bani Walid’s center, said military spokesman Colonel Ali al-Sheikhi. The fighting left at least 26 people dead and more than 200 wounded, according to Agence France-Presse.