More than a thousand people have filled the streets of Tripoli as a coffin said to contain the body of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s youngest son was carried through the capital.
Saif al-Arab Gaddafi was reportedly killed along with his three children by a NATO air raid on Gaddafi’s compound on Saturday night.
Residents crowded around the hearse on Monday, chanting “Revenge, revenge for you, Libya” and flashing victory signs as a coffin adorned with a green cloth was taken out of an ambulance that had slowly inched its way into the sea of people.
“The people want revenge for the martyr!” the crowd shouted, amid chants of support for the Libyan leader.
Gaddafi did not appear to be at the funeral but Saif al-Islam, the most prominent of his seven sons, attended along with his elder half-brother Mohammed.
Khaled Kaim, Libya’s deputy foreign minister, has said that the NATO strike was the fourth attempt to assassinate Gaddafi, who was in the building at the time.
Kaim denied the presence of command and control facilities in the Tripoli neighbourhood attacked by NATO.
‘Fabricated deaths’
Kaim also denied allegations that his government had fabricated the deaths and said church leaders in Libya had been allowed to see the bodies in the hospital.
Bishop Giovanni Martinelli, the top Catholic clergyman in Tripoli, said he was shown the bodies in the hospital on Sunday. He said he was told that one was that of Saif al-Arab, but it was so badly disfigured that he could not make a positive identification.
However, Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, who commands NATO’s operation in Libya, has said that the alliance does “not target individuals”.
But the announcement of the deaths triggered attacks by angry crowds on Western embassies in Tripoli.
In the aftermath of the attacks, Turkey’s foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, announced on Monday that the country had evacuated its ambassador and all other staff from its embassy in Tripoli to neighbouring Tunisia.
“Due to the change in the security situation in Libya and the great security risk it poses, our embassy has stopped functioning temporarily and has been evacuated,” Davutoglu told reporters.
The NATO-member had kept its embassy open since the uprising against Gaddafi’s rule began in February. But the announcement of its closure came a day after the UN said it had evacuated its international staff from Tripoli on account of the unrest.
Fighting continues
In other developments, Libyan government forces reportedly launched a new incursion into the opposition-held city of Misurata early on Monday.
An opposition spokesman, Hassan al-Misrati, said that Gaddafi’s forces ramped up their shelling of the besieged city.
He also accused NATO of neglecting its duty to defend Libyan civilians from Gaddafi’s bombardments.
But another opposition spokesman said the government attacks ceased after NATO air strikes.
“There were strikes by NATO on the outskirts of the city today at around midday (10:00 GMT),” the spokesman, called Reda, told the Reuters news agency by telephone.
“The port is still closed. Gaddafi’s forces bombarded it earlier today. The bombardment has now stopped.”