Gadhafi’s son, Khamis, killed after being captured in Bani Walid

Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son, brigade commander Khamis Gadhafi, was killed after he was captured in Bani Walid on Saturday.

Khamis, 30, who graduated from a Russian military academy, was leading one of Gadhafi's most powerful brigades, named the Mechanical 32 Brigade.

According to a spokesman for the National Congress of Libya, Omar Hamdan, Gadhafi's son was severely wounded when arrested during clashes that took place in Bani Walid, and his body was sent to Misrata.

Khamis was reported dead many times during last year's conflict, but he always turned out to be alive.

The announcement of his death coincided with the first anniversary of the death of his father, who was killed on Oct. 20, 2011, near his hometown of Sirte.

Moreover, it was reported on Saturday that former regime spokesman Moussa Ibrahim was detained. However, a few hours later, government spokesman Nasser al-Manaa corrected this report, saying that authorities had no official information on the arrest of any member of the former regime.

On Sunday, an audio recording published online of a man claiming to be Moussa Ibrahim denied his arrest, saying he is not even in Libya. The tape also paid tribute to Moammar Gadhafi on the occasion of the first anniversary of his death.

The government has not commented on the authenticity of the story, which was published by the Office of the Prime Minister. At the same time, there was criticism to the government, which rushed to publish the news as follows: "Moussa Ibrahim had been arrested by forces belong to the transitional Libyan government at a checkpoint in the city of Tarhuna. He (Ibrahim) is being transferred to Tripoli to be handed to the relevant authorities pending interrogation."

In the Libyan city of Bani Walid, clashes continue between government forces and supporters of the Gadhafi regime.

Medical sources in Misrata said that at least 26 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the fighting, adding that ambulances are regularly bringing new patients from the front lines.

Earlier on Saturday, Mohammed Megaryef, president of the national assembly, said the operations against Bani Walid do not target this brave city or its people, rather they target members of the Gadhafi regime, wanted people, the accused and infiltrators.

Opinion:

A Libyan source mentioned that Khamis's doctor had been captured, and that he was the one who told the authorities that Khamis was still alive with an amputated leg.

The question is, how could he fight while being in this health situation? Do the new Libyan authorities consider the killing of Khamis Gadhafi as a great achievement?

I think that Khamis was killed as revenge for his father's regime after he was arrested.

As we notice, all the stories and Libyan official statements on the killing of Khamis carry a lot of uncertainty.

I guess that someone in the case of Khamis had been most likely hiding in the house and was not a fighter.

On another concept, of course, the Libyan government did not comment and will not have any comment on the arrest of Moussa Ibrahim, especially in that they do not have any photos or videos proving these claims. Even a source in the government denied the claims of arresting Ibrahim.

Libya lives in a big mess. Unfortunately, NATO helped them to liberate because Libya is an oil-rich country, but it did not help them in organizing their country's internal affairs. There is still a possibility of division and civil war looming on the horizon.

Do the new leaders of Libya think that with Gadhafi's death, Libya is liberated? Gadhafi ruled Libya for 42 years; he had thousands of supporters. The new leaders of Libya should deal with this reality with democracy and not murder and revenge.

Finally, the international community and the Arab League should urgently intervene to put an end to the violence, which is renewed every day, and work on the unity of Libyan territory.

Sources:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/20/khamis-gaddafi-killed-bani-walid-muammar

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4294699,00.html

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3574907.ece