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Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's youngest son and three of his grandchildren are alleged to have been killed in a Nato air strike on Saturday in Tripoli.

Colonel Kadhafi and his wife were in Seif al-Arab Kadhafi's house when the strikes took place, but were not harmed. A regime spokesman said the attack was a deliberate attempt to assassinate the Libyan leader.

Nato said it had staged air strikes over Tripoli but did not confirm the Libyan claims of the deaths. At least three missile explosions were heard in the capital as warplanes flew overhead.

The commander of Nato's Operation Unified Protector, Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, said all targets were military and were linked to the regimes "systematic attacks on the population and populated areas". Nato has vowed to stage more strikes.

In the rebel capital of Benghazi, news of Seif al-Arab's death saw rebels firing rockets and Kalashnikovs into the air in celebrations which lasted for more than half an hour.

In a speech on state television on Saturday, Colonel Kadhafi said "Nato must abandon all hope of his departure", but he did call for talks with France and the United States.

His call was dismissed by the opposition Transitional National Council which has shaped itself into a parallel government in Benghazi.

In Brussels, a Nato official said they needed to see action, not words.