Libya says Gadhafi's son killed in airstrike, vows death to 'invaders'

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- The Libyan government said Sunday that ruler Moammar Gadhafi's son and his three grandchildren died in a NATO airstrike, and vowed to retaliate with death to "invaders" in the nation.
Gadhafi and his wife were in their son's house when it was targeted, but they are in good health, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told journalists.
In addition to Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, three of the ruler's grandchildren also died in the attack, he said.
.Saif al-Arab Gadhafi is one of two sons whose names begin with Saif. The 29-year-old is the sixth of his eight biological children.
Another son -- Saif al-Islam Gadhafi -- had previously touted reform, but has emerged as one of his father's most visible defenders in recent months.
The strikes destroyed the house in Tripoli, leaving a massive crater where it used to be.

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The building was in a residential area of the capital, according to Ibrahim, who said the son killed was a student in Germany.
Ibrahim slammed NATO after the airstrike, calling it an illegal act and a "war crime."
A NATO official said in a statement Sunday that he was "aware of unconfirmed media reports that some of Gadhafi's family members may have been killed."
"We regret all loss of life, especially the innocent civilians being harmed as a result of this ongoing conflict," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO's military operations.
"NATO is fulfilling its U.N. mandate to stop and prevent attacks against civilians with precision and care -- unlike Gadhafi's forces, which are causing so much suffering."
The NATO commander stated that all targets "are military in nature and have been clearly linked to the Gadhafi regime's systemic attacks on the Libyan population ... We do not target individuals."
The airstrikes started after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution authorizing the use of force to protect civilians demanding the ouster of the ruler, who has been in power for nearly 42 years.
A senior official in President Barack Obama's administration said the U.S. government is "very aware" of the reports, but cannot confirm who, if anyone, died in a strike until they see the evidence.
Gunfire broke out around Tripoli after the news came out. A crowd of demonstrators gathered around the ruler's compound. Images on Libyan state TV showed what appeared to be dozens of people chanting and waving flags.
Protesters could be heard yelling, "We want to redeem the martyr," and, "Oh youth, this is time for jihad."
They were joined at one point by Ibrahim, who told the demonstrators, "Every one of you are Saif al-Arab."
"We will make Libya the grave of all invaders," he told the crowd.
A spokesman for the Libyan opposition doubted the report of the death.
"In all honesty, we never heard of Saif al-Arab until the start of the uprising," said Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the Transitional National Council in Benghazi.
"We don't believe this is true," Ghoga said. "It is all fabrications by the regime in a desperate attempt to get sympathy. ... This regime constantly lies and keeps lying."
Despite skepticism by some rebels, some opposition members celebrated the report of Saif al-Arab's death in the streets of Benghazi.
Revelers danced and sang overnight as the sound of celebratory gunfire pierced through the air.
"By God, we're not supposed to rejoice anyone's death," one man told CNN. "But we want him to feel the pain and sorrow that we're going through with our own people he killed."
Many of the reported civilian deaths have come out of the western city of Misrata. On Sunday, a witness there described especially intense shelling by government forces.
"There's been continuous and heavy shelling for three hours straight," one man in Misrata told CNN Sunday morning. "There have been a lot of explosions."
The witness in Misrata, the country's third-largest city, speculated that the intensified attacks were tied directly to reports that Saif al-Arab Gadhafi was killed in a NATO attack.
"It's going to be like revenge," said the witness in Misrata, who supports the opposition, of the intensified attacks.
Despite Libya's threat of death to invaders in the country, NATO said in its statement that it would not stop its mission until the Libyan regime stops its attacks.
"NATO will continue operations until all attacks and threats against civilians have ceased; until all of (Gadhafi'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 said.
This is not the first time the ruler has reportedly been at the site of an airstrike that killed one of his children.
In April 1986, his adopted daughter, Hanna Gadhafi, was killed when U.S. forces launched an airstrike that targeted his residential compound.

At the time, U.S. President Ronald Reagan said the strikes were an act of self-defense following the bombing of a West Berlin, Germany, club that killed two American servicemen and injured several others.

source-CNN