by Michael Seamark
Dead? Khamis Gaddafi was reported to have been killed by a kamikaze air strike at the dictactor's compound
(March 22, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) One of Colonel Gaddafi’s sons – whose murderous special forces unit has been brutally suppressing the Libyan uprising – was yesterday reported to have been killed in a warplane ‘kamikaze’ bombing.
Khamis Gaddafi died after a Libyan air force pilot deliberately crashed his jet into the dictator’s compound a few days ago, according to one opposition website.
Western intelligence officials and Libyan opposition leaders were making urgent inquiries to check what government officials in Tripoli called a ‘nonsensical piece of news’.
But other websites named and posted photos of the ‘martyr’ pilot, identifying him as Mohammed Mokhtar Osman.
One caption under a photo of a grey-haired pilot climbing out of a jet cockpit said: ‘May his memory be blessed and may his sacrifice be rewarded by a free democratic Libya.’
If the unconfirmed reports are correct, the death of Khamis will be a body blow to Colonel Gaddafi, whose son has been a trusted member of his inner circle.
Suggestions that Khamis, 33, had been injured first emerged last week, with rumours that he had been hurt in fighting around Ajdabiya.
Then several websites claimed he had been badly burned when a Libyan jet crashed into his father’s Bab al-Azizia barracks – the same compound that was hit by a Tomahawk cruise missile on Sunday night.
Unsubstantiated reports said the air force pilot had taken off on a bombing mission against rebels but instead turned around and crashed his jet in a ‘suicide’ mission that may have been intended as an attack against Colonel Gaddafi himself.
Khamis reportedly died of burn wounds in hospital at the weekend.
The sixth of Gaddafi’s seven sons, he commands the elite Khamis Brigade, which is named after him and has been described as the Praetorian Guard of the Gaddafi family.
Far better armed and trained than the rest of the Libyan army, the brigade led the bloody fightback against the early success of the rebels.
Khamis, trained at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow, led his troops – also known as the Deterrent Battalion – in to retake the town of Zawiya in a chilling clean-up operation that left scores of rebels dead.
Their websites said that another of Gaddafi’s sons, Saadi ,was injured when the Libyan jet crashed.
Post a Comment