BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Libya’s Gaddafi regime is disputing claims (see video) that Moammar Gadhafi’s youngest son, who commands one of the regime’s strongest military brigades, was killed in a NATO airstrike in the western town of Zlitan.
The death of the 27-year-old Khamis Gaddafi, an air force commander who was feted by the US military shortly before the revolution, would be a significant blow.
A third son, Seif al-Islam, with a disputed doctorate from the London School of Economics, was put forth as the reformer before the revolution and had undertaken an extensive program of charity and grant activities in the West. After Gaddafi himself, Seif is the person with the greatest credibility to take power.
Regardless of the death of Khamis, the advance on Zlita is one more step toward the painful encirclement of Tripoli.