In this photo made on a government-organized tour, supporters carry a poster of a Libyan army colonel who was killed in a NATO attack in April, during funeral ceremony for members of the Gadhafi family in Tripoli on Monday.
By Darko Bandic, APIn this photo made on a government-organized tour, supporters carry a poster of a Libyan army colonel who was killed in a NATO attack in April, during funeral ceremony for members of the Gadhafi family in Tripoli on Monday.
Seif al-Arab Gadhafi's body, wrapped in a white burial shroud, was lowered into a grave to the thundering sound of anti-aircraft guns being fired from near the cemetery in a Tripoli neighborhood.Two of his older brothers, Seif al-Islam and Mohammed, paid their respects, but his father was absent. Members of the Gadhafi family have only made infrequent public appearances since the start of the uprising against the Libyan leader in mid-February.
South Africa on Monday joined Russia in criticizing the NATO strike on the Gadhafi family compound. NATO officials have denied they were hunting Gadhafi to break the stalemate between better trained government forces and lightly armed rebels, who control much of eastern Libya.
In Monday's tumultuous funeral, the Gadhafi brothers were thronged by a huge crowd pushing to get closer to the coffin, draped in a green Libyan flag. Seif al-Islam, once pegged as his father's possible successor and a proponent of reform, was dressed in traditional Libyan garb, with a black cap and a black vest over a long white shirt.
The procession began at a large intersection in Tripoli's al-Hani neighborhood, which had been blocked off for the occasion. Thousands crowded around the hearse, chanting "Revenge, revenge for you, Libya" and flashing victory signs.
From there, the mourners carried the casket to the nearby cemetery, where weeds and thistles grew among stone slabs that marked graves.
Seif al-Islam stood at the freshly dug grave as the body of his 29-year-old brother was removed from the simple coffin and lowered into the ground in a burial shroud.
Seif al-Arab was killed late Saturday, along with three of Gadhafi's grandchildren, ages six months to two years, when NATO bombed the family's compound in Tripoli. A French orthopedic surgeon, who runs a private clinic in Tripoli, told reporters he saw three of the four bodies and that one was most likely Seif al-Arab, based on photographs he had seen.
Gadhafi and his wife were present during the attack but were unharmed, said Libyan officials, who accused NATO of trying to assassinate the Libyan leader.
Some foreign countries also criticized the strike, saying it exceeded the U.N. mandate of protecting civilians in Libya. The U.N. approved the implementation of a no-fly zone over Libya in March after Gadhafi attacked protesters who demanded his ouster.
South Africa, which led an African mediation effort in Libya, said Monday that "attacks on leaders and officials can only result in the escalation of tensions and conflicts on all sides and make future reconciliation difficult."
Russia accused NATO of a "disproportionate use of force" on Sunday and called for an immediate cease-fire.
Gadhafi has also called for a cease-fire, but rebels don't believe it is genuine, especially since he has continued to pound the besieged town of Misrata, the only major rebel bastion in western Libya.
Gadhafi's forces used tanks to shell Misrata on Monday, as rumors fueled fears that the Libyan leader was preparing to use chemical weapons.
Hundreds have been killed in Misrata over the past two months as Gadhafi has attempted to seize the town. Rebels succeeded in pushing Gadhafi forces out of several areas of town about a week ago, but they have responded with relentless shelling from the outskirts.
The most recent barrage started early Monday morning and only paused with the threat of NATO airstrikes, said Libyan activist Rida al-Montasser.
"Only when we heard the NATO planes flying over, the shelling paused," said al-Montasser.
Even as the shelling paused, fear spread through Misrata that Gadhafi forces were preparing to use chemical weapons in their fight to defeat the rebels.
"We heard like everybody else that the soldiers are distributing gas masks" in the nearby city of Zlitan, said al-Montasser.
The rumors of Gadhafi forces distributing gas masks could not be independently confirmed.
A U.N. watchdog indicated in February, soon after the Libyan revolution started, that it was unlikely that Gadhafi would use chemical weapons because he had no way to deliver such a payload. Gadhafi destroyed the aerial bombs needed as part of a 2003 reconciliation deal with the West, said the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
U.S. and British intelligence agencies reportedly have been concerned that Gadhafi may not have declared all his munitions and may have held some back, but no evidence has surfaced to support those fears.
Fearful Misrata residents asked officials in Benghazi, the de facto capital in eastern Libya, to send a shipment of gas masks, said al-Montasser, the activist.
On Sunday, the Libyan government unleashed two volleys of rockets on Misrata's port, and heavy shelling occurred elsewhere in the city. The attacks killed 12 people, raising the two-day death toll to 23.
Also Sunday, vandals burned the British and Italian embassies and a U.N. office in Tripoli. The unrest in the capital prompted the U.N. to withdraw its international staff.
Turkey temporarily closed its embassy in Tripoli on Monday due to deteriorating security, and its staff traveled to Tunisia, said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
The Turkish consulate in rebel-controlled Benghazi was still open, the foreign ministry said.
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