BOMBING IN LIBYA – AT 11:07 P.M. ET:  Libya has announced that a son of Muammar al-Qaddafi, and three  of Qaddafi's grandchildren, have been killed in a NATO raid.  From Fox:

NATO says it struck a government building in Tripoli but can't confirm that one of Muammar al-Qaddafi's sons was killed.

Sunday's statement comes hours after an airstrike that the Libya regime said killed Qaddafi's youngest son Seif al-Arab and three of the Libyan leader's grandchildren. Qaddafi escaped unharmed.

NATO says it struck a "command and control building in the Bab al-Azizya neighborhood" Saturday evening, insisting all its targets are military in nature and linked to Qaddafi's systematic attacks on the population.

Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard says he is aware of unconfirmed reports that some Qaddafi family members may have been killed and he regrets "all loss of life, specially the innocent civilians being harmed as a result of the ongoing conflict."

And...

Muammar Qaddafi and his wife were in the Tripoli house of his 29-year-old son when it was hit by at least one bomb dropped from a NATO warplane, according to Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.

COMMENT:  We certainly wouldn't want to minimize this event, but I'd like to see confirmation.  Some readers may recall that, in the mid-80s, President Reagan ordered a retaliatory strike on Libya after its operatives exploded a bomb in a German cafe frequented by American soldiers.  Libya announced after the strike that a child of Qaddafi had been killed.  This latest claim seems awfully familiar.

Again, we certainly wouldn't take any joy in the inadvertent killing of family members, but we'll withhold acceptance of the story.  Is it possible that NATO has decided to target Qaddafi directly, as the only means of getting him out of power?  I'm sure this will be explored by the media in the next few days.

April 30,  2011