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Gadhafi's youngest son, grandkids killed in NATO attack

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi survived a NATO missile strike Saturday that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren and wounded friends and relatives, Libya's spokesman said.
Image: Damage Damage which the Libyan government said was caused by a coalition air strike is seen at the house of Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi in Tripoli
A picture taken during a guided government tour shows damage that the Libyan government said was caused by a coalition air strike at the Tripoli house of Saif Al-Arab Gadhafi, youngest son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.Louafi Larbi / Reuters
/ Source: msnbc.com news services

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi survived a NATO missile strike Saturday that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren and wounded friends and relatives, Libya's spokesman said.

Gadhafi and his wife were in the Tripoli house of son Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, 29, when it was hit by at least one missile fired by a NATO warplane, according to Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.

The strike, which came hours after Gadhafi called for a cease-fire and negotiations in what rebels called a publicity stunt, marked an escalation of international efforts to prevent the Libyan regime from regaining momentum.

NATO said Sunday it had struck a "known command and control building in the Bab al-Azizya neighborhood" on Saturday evening.

Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard said he is aware of unconfirmed reports that some Gadhafi family members may have been killed.

"All NATO's targets are military in nature ... We do not target individuals,'' he said in a statement. He said he regrets "all loss of life, especially the innocent civilians being harmed as a result of the ongoing conflict."

NATO could not confirm the death of Gadhafi's son.

Libyan officials took journalists to the one-story house in a wealthy residential neighborhood. Some areas of the roof were caved in, leaving strings of reinforcing steel hanging down among chunks of concrete.

A table football machine stood outside in the garden of the house.

Ibrahim said the villa was attacked "with full power."

"This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country," the spokesman added.

"The leader himself is in good health," Ibrahim said. "He was not harmed. The wife is also in good health."

Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, the colonel's sixth son, had spent much of his time at a German university but had not completed his studies, Ibrahim said.

Saif al-Arab "was playing and talking with his father and mother and his nieces and nephews and other visitors when he was attacked for no crimes committed," Ibrahim said.

On Tuesday, British Defense Minister Liam Fox and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at the Pentagon that that NATO planes were not targeting Gadhafi specifically but would continue to attack his command centers.

Heavy bursts of gunfire were heard in Tripoli after the attack.

In the besieged city of Misrata, rebels honked horns and chanted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great." Fireworks were set off in front of the central Hikma hospital, causing a brief panic that the light would draw fire from Gadhafi's forces.

Gadhafi had seven sons and one daughter.

The Libyan leader also had an adopted daughter who was killed in a 1986 U.S. airstrike on his Bab al-Aziziya residential compound, which was separate from the area struck on Saturday. That strike came in retaliation for the bombing attack on a German disco in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. The U.S. at the time blamed Libya for the disco blast.

Saif al-Arab's mother is Safiya Farkash, Gadhafi's second wife and a former nurse.

His better-known brother is Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, who had been touted as a reformist before the uprising began in mid-February.

NATO warplanes have been carrying out airstrikes in Libya for the past month as part of a U.N. mandate to protect Libyan civilians. Saturday's strike marked the first time Gadhafi's family was being targeted directly.

Armed rebels have been battling Gadhafi loyalists for more than two months in an attempt to oust Libya's ruler of nearly 42 years. Standing outside an improvised triage unit in a tent in the parking lot, rebel fighter Abdel-Aziz Bilhaj, 22, welcomed the attack, saying it would make Gadhafi think twice about how he dealt with his people.

"It could make him more willing to back down on certain parts of his plan," Bilhaj said.

Medic Abdel-Monem Ibsheir considered the strike a form of justice.

"Gadhafi was not far away, meaning he's not safe," he said as occasional explosions could be heard throughout the city. "It's just like our children getting hit here. Now his children are getting hit there."

Eleven dead had reached the hospital morgue by midnight, including two brothers, ages 11 and 16. Two more had arrived by 1:30 a.m., and four more at another hospital.

Call for cease-fire
The strike came after Gadhafi early Saturday called for negotiations with NATO powers to end airstrikes on Libya.

"We did not attack them or cross the sea ... why are they attacking us?" Gadhafi said in a live television address. "Let us negotiate with you, the countries that attack us. Let us negotiate," he said, adding that if it was oil the coalition countries were after there was no problem in negotiating contracts.

Gadhafi said he was amenable to a cease-fire but only if it involved all sides and not only his own forces who are fighting against rebels in the east.

Libya "is ready until now to enter a cease-fire ... but a cease-fire cannot be from one side,'' Gadhafi said. "We were the first to welcome a cease-fire and we were the first to accept a cease-fire ... but the crusader NATO attack has not stopped.''

Gadhafi also said: "I'm not leaving my country. No one can force me to leave my country and no one can tell me not to fight for my country."

At the end of his rambling speech, Gadhafi reportedly snagged his microphone while picking up papers and tossed it away.

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NATO warplanes bombed a government complex in the Libyan capital Tripoli including the television building as Gadhafi gave the address, Libyan state television said.

"A building adjacent to the Jamahiriya building was bombed during the broadcast of Moammar Gadhafi's speech and that implies a target on the leader of the revolution himself,'' the television said after Gadhafi had finished speaking.

The screen flickered more than once as Gadhafi was speaking.

The NATO strike damaged offices of parliamentary staff and a building officials said housed a commission for children and women.

A policeman at the scene said three people were hurt, one seriously.

A rebel spokesman, Jalal al-Galal, called the cease-fire offer a publicity stunt.

"We don't believe that there is a solution that includes him or any member of his family. So it is well past any discussions. The only solution is for him to depart," he said.

NATO: Attacks must endNATO said Gadhafi's forces would have to end their attacks on civilians before it considered the cease-fire offer.

A NATO official said Saturday that the alliance wanted to "to see not words but actions."

The official said Gadhafi's regime had announced cease-fires several times before and then continued attacking cities and civilians.

The official, who could not be identified in line with standing regulations, said just hours before Gadhafi proposed the truce, his forces indiscriminately shelled the besieged port city of Misrata, Libya, killing several people.

"All this has to stop, and it has to stop now," the NATO official said, adding that a cease-fire must be "credible and verifiable."