adminon the western town of Zlitan yesterday.
It is the second time Khamis has been mistakenly reported dead.
“It’s false news. They invented the news about Mr Khamis Gaddafi in Zlitan to cover up their killing (of civilians),” Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told Reuters news agency in Tripoli. “This is a dirty trick to cover up their crime in Zlitan and the killing of the al-Marabit family (a Libyan family).” Earlier, rebel spokesman Mohammad al-Rajali had claimed unconfirmed reports from his forces suggested that Gaddafi’s seventh son was among the 33 troops killed while fighting the rebels in Zlitan, 140km southeast of Tripoli.
Khamis, the commander of the 32 Brigade (dubbed in the press the “Khamis brigade”) was first reported dead by Arab and Western journalists last March. He later appeared on Libyan State TV to dispel the rumors. On Thursday, Gaddafi’s government accused Nato of bombing civilian targets in Zlitan. Khamis Gaddafi has long been a leading commander in his father’s forces.
The family of the Jamahiriya leader had already been targeted as Gaddafi’s sons are in charge of the military command in the country. Three months ago, Gaddafi’s son Saif Al-Arab and three of his grandchildren were killed in a Nato airstrike on his house in the Ghargour neighborhood of Tripoli.
Meanwhile, Raul Castro met on Wednesday with a special envoy of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, during which the Cuban leader called for ceasefire and a peaceful solution to the Libya crisis.
The envoy, Libyan Planning and Finance Minister Abdulhafid M Zlitni, conveyed a message to Castro from Gaddafi, the state-run daily Granma said Thursday.
Zlitni informed Castro on the “efforts by the Libyan government to face the international isolation campaign imposed by the Western powers.” For his part, Castro strongly condemned the Nato bombing of Libya for “killing innocent people,” the newspaper said.
“Immediate cessation of these acts of war would allow the progress towards a peaceful solution,” Castro was quoted as saying, while urging full respect of Libya’s independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty over its natural resources.
The Cuban leader also said he supports the role of the African Union (AU) leaders in mediating the Libyan conflict to achieve peace. The Cuba government has said on several occasions that it opposes the Nato bombings on Libyan soil and frequently issued statements in support of the peace process promoted by the AU.
The newspaper said Zlitni also conveyed Gaddafi’s letter to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, in which Gaddafi thanked Chavez for “his strong support during the Nato-backed rebellion.” – Russia Tod-ay/Prensa Latina.
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