Reports are circulating that Qaddafi’s seventh and youngest son, Khamis, has been captured by the Zintan brigade following a gunfight in Siyahiya . . .[restrict]in west Tripoli circulated in Libya for much of Saturday.
The rumours that Khamis is still alive, despite being reported dead or captured on at least four separate occasions since March 2011, have resurfaced, with a local journalist claiming a senior NTC official said that Khamis is at Tarhuna, 90 km southeast of Tripoli and is about to be picked up.
Asked about the rumours, NTC chairman Mustafa Abdul Jalil was quoted on TV on Saturday saying that he was was aware of them. He did not deny them.
There is, however, general scepticism in Tripoli over the reports. “I don’t believe it,” said local businessman Ibrahim Abdullah. “He’s dead.”
Given that this story first surfaced last November and was widely reported, it would seem that if Khamis were alive and ever in Tarhuna, he is likely to have left by now.
Among the supporting information that has been put forward during today is that Khamis, who was repeatedly reported to have been wounded, has had a leg amputated and has been travelling with a doctor.
Khamis was first reported slain on 13 March last year when a pilot smashed his aeroplane into the Bab Al-Azizia. On 5 August, Khamis was reported killed again along with 41 of his soldiers from the dreaded Mechanised 32nd Brigade, near Zlintan. Then on 22 August, he was supposed to have been captured along with intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi. He died again on 29 August when a bodyguard said he had been killed in a Toyota Landcruiser during a NATO airstrike. This death was apparently confirmed a fortnight later of pro-Qaddafi TV.
The problem is that a body has never been identified and this has allowed speculation to regularly resurface. [/restrict]
