The youngest son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Arab, who was killed during a NATO airstrike on a wealthy residential area in Tripoli on Saturday, was a postgraduate student majoring in economy and not a military person, Libyan state-run JANA news agency reported.
The airstrike on Gaddafi’s house also killed three of his grandchildren as well as several friends and neighbors, the agency said citing a statement from the government.
“Late Saif al-Arab, born in 1982, was a postgraduate student majoring in economy and not a military serviceman,” the agency said adding that Muammar Gaddafi and his wife “miraculously” survived the attack.
A total of 14 of the 28 NATO countries are taking part in the operation Unified Protector in Libya, which includes airstrikes, a no-fly zone and naval enforcement of an arms embargo.
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, paving the way for a military operation against Gaddafi which began two days later. The command of the operation was shifted from a U.S.-led international coalition to NATO in late March.
CAIRO, May 1 (RIA Novosti)