Has Moammar Gadhafi's Son Khamis Been Killed by Libyan Pilot?

Rumors are swirling in the Arab world that one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons has been killed in an attack on the family compound -- but not by a coalition airstrike. Khamis Gadhafi is said to have been killed by a traitor Libyan air force pilot who nose-dived his fighter jet into the Gadhafi compound on a kamikaze suicide mission.

The 27-year-old son of Libya's dictator heads the Khamis Brigades, a special-forces unit of the Libyan army especially loyal to Gadhafi. The force was blamed for some of the most vicious attacks on pro-democracy protesters in eastern Libyan in recent weeks, as well as for recruiting African mercenaries to attack Libyans who oppose Gadhafi.

Reports of Khamis Gadhafi's death have been denied by Libyan officials.

Libyan officials have denied the reports of Khamis Gadhafi's death, which have been carried by Libyan opposition websites and Arab news agencies, and picked up by some Western media.

The reports say a Libyan air force pilot was dispatched on a bombing raid toward the east but instead turned around and deliberately crashed his jet into the Gadhafi family's Bab al-Aziziya compound on Saturday, in a possible attempt on the Libyan dictator's life. Moammar Gadhafi wasn't there at the time and is believed to be hiding in a secret bunker, but his son reportedly died from extensive burns.

One Libyan opposition website said the attack happened earlier, on March 15, and posted a photo of the alleged kamikaze pilot, Muhammad Mukhtar Osman, calling him a "martyr."

"This act of courage will forever be remembered. Osman is a hero to the revolution. God rest his soul," the Libyan Youth Movement said. But it made no mention of Khamis Gadhafi's death.

Coalition officials are said to be urgently investigating the reports to see if they're true. But verifying the kamikaze strike could prove difficult. After the Libyan pilot is alleged to have crashed into Bab al-Aziziya, coalition aircraft unleashed cruise missiles on the compound Sunday, blasting parts of it into ruin. Casualty figures, if any, are unknown.

There were also rumors last week that Khamis Gadhafi was injured in fighting against rebels in Ajdabiya, in eastern Libya.

A Libyan government official acknowledged the report of Khamis Gadhafi's death but called it a "nonsensical piece of news." But other Libyan opposition websites also identified the alleged kamikaze pilot as Osman.

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"May his memory be blessed and may his sacrifice be rewarded by a free democratic Libya," another caption read, alongside the same photo of a gray-haired pilot climbing into his cockpit.

Khamis Gadhafi is the Libyan dictator's seventh and youngest son. He was only 3 years old when an American airstrike hit Bab al-Aziziya in 1986, in response to the bombing of a Berlin disco, blamed on Libyan agents, that killed three American soldiers and wounded more than 230 people. Khamis suffered head injuries in the 1986 U.S. airstrike, and his adopted sister was purportedly killed.

Khamis later went on to study military science in Tripoli and Moscow, and was expelled from an M.B.A. business program in Madrid earlier this month because of his alleged links to attacks on Libyan civilians.