Confusion over fate of key aide Ibrahim as Gaddafi son is killed

A son of toppled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been killed in fighting between militias, broadcaster Libya TV reported, as confusion swirled yesterday over the fate of one of Gaddafi senior's most-wanted former aides, Mussa Ibrahim.

Khamis Gaddafi, 29, a former military commander, had previously been reported killed during the uprising against his father's regime. Saturday was the anniversary of the killing of Muammar Gaddafi in his birthplace, Misurata.

A Libya TV reporter, who himself was wounded in the fighting in Bani Walid, Libya, said on Saturday that he had seen Khamis Gaddafi's body. Bani Walid was one of the regime's last strongholds during the 2011 revolution.

The Libyan Army had launched an attack on Saturday against armed groups in Bani Walid after a siege of more than two weeks. Five government soldiers were wounded in the clash, which saw government forces capture a tank from the militia.

Army forces had besieged the town while tribal leaders tried to broker a peaceful solution between the two sides. Sporadic clashes left scores of troops and civilians dead.

The government had announced on Saturday that Ibrahim had been captured in the western town of Tarhuna, between Bani Walid and Tripoli, exactly a year after Gaddafi was himself captured and killed.

But later a government spokesman said there was no confirmation of the capture and an audiotape surfaced on the internet purportedly of Ibrahim himself denying the report.