Tripoli - A Nato air strike killed Muammar Gaddafi's youngest son and three grandchildren but the strongman escaped unhurt, a Libyan spokesperson said on Sunday, after rebels and Nato spurned an offer for talks to end the crisis.
The house of Seif al-Arab Gaddafi, 29, "was attacked tonight with full power," government spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim told a news conference, announcing the deaths in the Saturday evening strikes.
The Libyan leader and his wife were in the building but were not harmed, Ibrahim said, calling the strike "a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country."
"The leader himself is in good health; he wasn't harmed. His wife is also in good health; she wasn't harmed, (but) other people were injured," he added.
Ibrahim later said intelligence on Gaddafi's whereabouts appeared to have been "leaked," adding: "They knew about him being there, or expected him for some reason."
Lost a daughter
Gaddafi had lost an adopted daughter in a US air raid in 1986.
Nato said it had staged airstrikes in Tripoli but did not confirm the Libyan claims. There was no immediate confirmation of the deaths either. At least three missiles had been heard exploding earlier as jets flew overhead.
A statement from the transatlantic military alliance said it continued its precision strikes against Gaddafi regime military installations in Tripoli overnight, "including striking a known command and control building in the Bab al-Azizya neighbourhood shortly after 18:00 on Saturday evening."
Automatic gunfire, apparently in mourning, echoed across the capital following the announcement, while state TV showed flag-waving demonstrators whom it said turned out to mourn Seif al-Arab's death.
Overjoyed rebels fired rockets, Kalashnikovs, anti-aircraft machine guns and detonated TNT for more than a half an hour, rocking the rebel capital of Benghazi with sustained gunfire and explosions.
Celebrations
"They are so happy that Gaddafi lost his son in an air strike that they are shooting in celebration," said Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, military spokesperson of the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council (TNC) headquartered in the eastern city.
Cars drove along the seafront beeping their horns as people shouted "God is greatest" below a night sky lit up by red tracer fire.
Ibrahim had earlier taken journalists to the remnants of a heavily damaged house in Tripoli, hinting but not explicitly indicating this was the one in which Gaddafi's son had died.
Long, twisted rods of reinforcing steel bars stuck out of large chunks of blasted concrete lay in and around the structure. In some areas, the roof had caved in completely and walls had collapsed. A thick layer of dark grey dust covered the grounds.
Given the level of destruction, it was improbable that anyone present could have survived.
Nato vowed to stage more strikes, though the commander of Nato's Operation Unified Protector stressed that "we do not target individuals."
Military targets
"All Nato's targets are military in nature and have been clearly linked to the... regime's systematic attacks on the Libyan population and populated areas," said Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard.
The statement said the raids would go on until all attacks and threats against civilians had ceased and until all of Gaddafi's forces, "including his snipers, mercenaries and paramilitary forces have verifiably withdrawn to their bases, and until there is full, free and unhindered access to humanitarian aid to all those in Libya who need it," the statement added.
In a speech on state television on Saturday, Gaddafi had said Nato "must abandon all hope of his departure."
"I have no official functions to give up: I will not leave my country and will fight to the death," he said.
But he added a conciliatory note: "We are ready to talk with France and the United States, but with no preconditions.
"We will not surrender, but I call on you to negotiate. If you want petrol, we will sign contracts with your companies - it is not worth going to war over.
See actions
"Between Libyans, we can solve our problems without being attacked, so pull back your fleets and your planes," he told Nato.
His call was dismissed by the TNC, which has shaped itself into a parallel government in Benghazi, and by Nato.
"The time for compromise has passed," said TNC vice chairperson Abdul Hafiz Ghoga. "The people of Libya cannot possibly envisage or accept a future Libya in which Gaddafi's regime plays any role."
In Brussels, a Nato official also rejected talks, saying: "We need to see not words but actions."
The regime threatened to attack any ships trying to enter the rebel-held port of Misrata, after tanks launched an assault on the city east of Tripoli.
Misrata's port is a crucial conduit for humanitarian aid to the city of half a million, which Gaddafi's forces have been trying to capture for more than seven weeks.
The fighting in Misrata has intensified 10 weeks after government forces launched a deadly crackdown on protests inspired by regime-changing movements in Tunisia and Egypt.
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