TRIPOLI, Libya — Libyans shouting for revenge buried Moammar Gadhafi’s second-youngest son to the thundering sound of anti-aircraft fire Monday, as South Africa warned that the NATO bombing that killed him would only bring more violence.
Libya’s leader did not attend the tumultuous funeral of 29-year-old Seif al-Arab, but older brothers Seif al-Islam and Mohammed paid their respects, thronged by a crowd of several thousand.
Jostling to get closer to the coffin, draped with a green Libyan flag, mourners flashed victory signs and chanted “Revenge, revenge for you, Libya.”
Three of Gadhafi’s grandchildren, an infant and two toddlers, also died in Saturday’s attack, which NATO says targeted one of the regime’s command and control centers.
Gadhafi and his wife were in the compound at the time but escaped unharmed, Libyan officials said, accusing the alliance of trying to assassinate the Libyan leader.
NATO officials have denied they are hunting Gadhafi to break the battlefield stalemate between Gadhafi’s troops and rebels trying for the past 10 weeks to depose him. Rebels largely control eastern Libya, while Gadhafi has clung to much of the west, including the capital, Tripoli.
Battles have raged in Misrata, a besieged rebel-held city in western Libya, which has been shelled by Libyan forces every day in recent weeks. Records at one hospital showed that at least eight people were killed and 54 injured in shelling Monday that lasted all morning and for a brief period during the afternoon.
Rebels have called on NATO to use more firepower against Libyan troops.
“We call on the world to deal with Gadhafi just as they dealt with bin Laden,” said a Misrata doctor, referring to the killing of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by U.S. forces early Monday. The doctor gave only his first name, Aiman, for fear of reprisal.
Under a U.N. mandate, NATO’s role is to protect Libyan civilians, but the international community has increasingly disagreed about what that entails. Western political leaders have called for Gadhafi’s ouster, prompting warnings from Russia, China and others that regime change must not be the objective of NATO’S bombing campaign, now in its second month.
Responding to the attack on the Gadhafi compound, South Africa 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.”
South Africa has attempted to mediate between Gadhafi and the rebels, proposing a cease-fire and dialogue. Rebel leaders have said they will lay down their arms only when Gadhafi and his family leave, but Gadhafi has refused.
In Monday’s funeral, Gadhafi’s sons Seif al-Islam and Mohammed were surrounded by a crowd of mourners who carried the coffin to a neglected, dusty cemetery where weeds and thistles grew amid stone slabs marking graves. From several positions near the cemetery, sustained anti-aircraft fire erupted for several minutes.
Seif al-Islam, viewed until recently by the West as a proponent of reform, stood at the freshly dug grave as the body of his brother was removed from the coffin, wrapped in a white burial shroud and lowered into the ground.
About 100 yards away, small graves had been dug for the Gadhafi grandchildren.
The bombing has not deterred Gadhafi from keeping up his attacks on Misrata, Libya’s third-largest city with 300,000 people. On Monday, regime forces deployed on the outskirts of the city shelled Misrata, including its port, for several hours. Doctors said 12 people were wounded.
