Alliance with Islamists in Libya - claims Qadhafi's son

The son of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi claimed that his family had forged an alliance with Islamist rebels, state-run Libyan television said Thursday.

Seif al-Islam Qadhafi, who terms the internal opposition to his father’s regime as radical extremists, was quoted as telling the New York Times that “the liberal (rebels) will escape or be killed... We will do it together.” He claimed to have negotiated the pact with Ali Sallabi, a leading Islamist in the rebel-held east.

The Qadhafi regime has termed the revolt in Libya an al-Qaeda plot to ignite civil strife in the country.

Mr. Qadhafi’s son, his father’s mouthpiece since the uprising started in February, hinted there was a deep split between the Islamists and liberal rebels in Libya.

Wave of loud blasts rock Libyan capital

A wave of blasts rocked Tripoli early Saturday, including the area housing Moammar Gadhafi’s complex, as his regime denied rebels attacked Libya’s capital and wounded a top security official.

At least seven powerful explosions were heard around 2:20 a.m. (0020 GMT), an Agence France-Presse journalist reported, as state television quoted a military official as saying NATO warplanes “are currently bombing civilian sites in the capital Tripoli.”

The raid is yet to be confirmed by NATO-led forces which have been carrying out air strikes against Kadhafi’s war machine since late March in a bid to halt a crackdown on civilians.

It came after rebel forces said they lost 16 fighters east of Tripoli on Friday but that they infiltrated the capital and attacked a regime command post where a son of the strongman was among officials targetted.

US sends 'time to go' message to Gaddafi

US official says weekend meeting with envoys from Tripoli was to reaffirm Washington's call for Libyan leader to quit. US officials have met with representatives of Muammar Gaddafi to deliver a message that the embattled Libyan leader must go, a state department spokesperson said. The rare meeting between US diplomats and Gaddafi envoys on Saturday was held "to deliver a clear and firm message that the only way to move forward is for Gaddafi to step down," the official said on Tuesday. "This was not a negotiation. It was the delivery of a message," the official said in a statement issued in New Delhi, where Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, is on an official visit.