Gadhafi son, reported killed, appears on TV [August 10 2011]

Libyan state television broadcast images today of a man it said was Moammar Gadhafis youngest son in an attempt to refute rebel claims that he had been killed in a NATO airstrike. Rebels claimed on Friday that 27-year-old Khamis Gadhafi, who commands one of the best trained and equipped units in the Libyan military, was killed in the western front-line town of Zlitan. The regime dismissed the claim and said the rebels were only trying to deflect attention from the killing last week of the oppositions military commander, possibly by other rebels.

The images on television showed the son at a Tripoli hospital visiting people wounded in a NATO airstrike and said it was on Tuesday. If genuine, it would be the first time he has been seen in public since the reports of his death. The Libyan revolt that began in February has sunk into a deep stalemate in the past few months, with the rebels holding on to most of the eastern half of the country that they captured early on and Gadhafis regime controlling most of the west. Neither side has been able to tip the balance into an outright victory, even with months of NATO airstrikes pounding regime targets.

State television also showed funerals for dozens of civilians it said had died in another NATO airstrike on Tuesday in Zlitan, a main front for the rebels fighting Gadhafis troops. It is about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli. The channel has been airing images in black and white to honor a three-day mourning period for the 85 people the government said lost their lives in Zlitan.