20110501
reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a NATO air strike on a Tripoli house that killed his youngest son Saif al-Arab and three young grandchildren, a government spokesman said on Sunday.

Libyan officials took journalists to the house, which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in at places, leaving mangled rods of steel hanging down among splintered chunks of concrete.

"What we have now is the law of the jungle," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a news conference. "We think now it is clear to everyone that what is happening in Libya has nothing to do with the protection of civilians."

The deaths have not been independently confirmed. But they would be sure to heap pressure on NATO -- which denies targeting the Gaddafi family -- from opponents of the mission who say it goes beyond its U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

It would also show the vulnerability of Gaddafi himself.

Fighting in Libya's civil war, which grew from protests for greater political freedom that have spread across the Arab world, has reached stalemate in recent weeks with neither side capable of achieving a decisive blow.

Ibrahim said Gaddafi's youngest son, Saif al-Arab, was killed in the attack. Saif al-Arab, 29, is one of Gaddafi's less prominent sons, with a limited role in the power structure. Ibrahim described him as a student who had studied in Germany.

The grandchildren killed were pre-teens, Ibrahim said.