BENGHAZI, Libya — Libyan state television broadcast images Wednesday of a man it said was Moammar Gadhafi’s youngest son in an attempt to refute rebel claims that he had been killed in a NATO airstrike.
Rebels claimed on Friday that 27-year-old Khamis Gadhafi, who commands one of the best tr
ained and equipped units in the Libyan military, was killed in the western front-line town of Zlitan. The regime dismissed the claim and said the rebels were only trying to deflect attention from the killing last week of the opposition’s military commander, possibly by other rebels.
The images on television showed the son at a Tripoli hospital visiting people wounded in a NATO airstrike and said it was on Tuesday. If genuine, it would be the first time he has been seen in public since the reports of his death.
The Libyan revolt that began in February has sunk into a deep stalemate in the past few months, with the rebels holding on to most of the eastern half of the country that they captured early on and Gadhafi’s regime controlling most of the west. Neither side has been able to tip the balance into an outright victory, even with months of NATO airstrikes pounding regime targets.
State television also showed funerals for dozens of civilians it said had died in another NATO airstrike on Tuesday in Zlitan, a main front for the rebels fighting Gadhafi’s troops. It is about 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.
The channel has been airing images in black and white to honor a three-day mourning period for the 85 people the government said lost their lives in Zlitan.
More than 200 people gathered around about 40 coffins set on the ground in a cemetery under the shadows of palm trees. Someone with a loudspeaker delivered a speech while the crowd interrupted him with calls of “Allahu Akbar” — Arabic for God is Great.
“Let everyone know that the planes, supported by the governments of Qatar and the Emirates, will only increase our grudge against them and will only increase our steadfastness in the face of the enemy,” the man with the loudspeaker said.
A day earlier, state television ran images of Libyans rummaging through the rubble of buildings the government said were destroyed by the airstrike. They were shown digging out body parts and piling dead babies in sacks in the back of ambulances. It said 33 children and 32 women were among those killed.
A NATO spokesman said Tuesday that the alliance had hit two farm buildings in the area and that they were legitimate military targets. He said NATO has no evidence of civilian casualties at the moment.
In other developments, the European Union said it was adding two more Libyan businesses to its list of companies and individuals targeted by sanctions. A statement said the two firms will be named Thursday in the EU’s official journal.
So far, the 27-nation bloc has frozen the funds of six port authorities, 49 state-run companies and 39 individuals “involved in the serious human rights abuses in Libya.”
The 39 individuals, who include Moammar Gadhafi and several of his family members, are also banned from traveling to the bloc.
And in the United Arab Emirates, a new Libyan ambassador backed by the rebels leadership council officially presented his credentials to a foreign affairs ministry undersecretary, Mubarak al-Junaibi. The ambassador, Arif Ali, expressed the council’s gratitude for the Emirates’ support, according to a report on official state news agency WAM.
The UAE joined the NATO-led coalition enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, and was one of the first Arab countries to recognize the rebel council as Libya’s government.
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