Crowds loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi buried the dictator's son in Tripoli on Monday after he was killed in a NATO airstrike over the weekend.

The government supporters shouted pro-Gadhafi chants at the funeral of 29-year-old Saif al-Arab Gadhafi and three of the leader's grandsons. Gadhafi himself did not attend the burial.

Gadhafi and his wife were also reportedly in the bombed single-story residence in the Libyan capital but survived the attack.

The burial came as Gadhafi's forces had to halt their bombardment of the rebel-held city of Misrata following reports of NATO airstrikes.

Government troops had targeted the city with heavy shelling throughout the morning as loyalist tanks pushed into the western suburbs of Libya's third-largest city.

Medical sources said at least four people were killed in the ensuing clashes and a further 30 injured. A rebel spokesman told the news agency AFP that anti-government forces had halted the tanks.

However, Gadhafi's troops still have Misrata surrounded, meaning rebels there are dependent on sea-borne supplies.

Further strikes

The opposition Brnieq website added that Gadhafi's brigades have shelled the western city of Zintan, roughly 160 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, for several hours, unleashing some 50 rockets.

NATO was able to intervene and hit the base from where the rockets were being fired south of Zintan, forcing Gadhafi's troops to flee and allowing rebels to acquire the weapons left behind, according to eyewitnesses quoted in Brnieq.

Alliance fighter jets were also heard flying overhead in the eastern cities of Ajdabiya and Brega, reportedly destroying artillery used by Gadhafi's forces, according to the Libya al-Youm newspaper.

Reprisal attacks

The announcement of the deaths of Gadhafi's family members triggered attacks by angry crowds on the British and French embassies as well as the US diplomatic mission in Tripoli over the weekend. Libyan officials also accused NATO of trying to assassinate Gadhafi.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed the British diplomatic compound in the capital had been destroyed.

The attacks led to the UK announcing it would expel Libya's ambassador to London. The United Nations also announced its international staff had left Tripoli because of the unrest there.

Stephanie Bunker, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said Sunday that 12 staffers had left the North African country and were now in neighboring Tunisia.

UN staffers remained in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, in the east of the country.

Author: Darren Mara (AFP, Reuters, dpa)
Editor: Rob Turner