The house of Seif al-Arab Kadhafi, 29, "was attacked tonight with full power," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters, announcing the deaths from Saturday night raids.

The Libyan leader and his wife were in the building but were not harmed, Ibrahim said, calling the strike "a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country."

"The leader himself is in good health; he wasn't harmed. His wife is also in good health; she wasn't harmed, (but) other people were injured," he added.

Ibrahim later said intelligence on Kadhafi's whereabouts appeared to have been "leaked," adding: "They knew about him being there, or expected him for some reason."

The United States avoided comment on reported deaths in the Kadhafi family.

"We got calls from Libyans saying someone big was hit," a senior US administration official told AFP late on Saturday on condition of anonymity. "But as to who, I have only the same reports as you do."

Kadhafi also lost an adopted daughter in a US air raid in 1986.

NATO said it had staged air strikes in Tripoli but did not confirm the Libyan claims, and there was no immediate confirmation of the deaths. At least three missiles were heard exploding earlier as warplanes flew overhead.

A NATO statement said it continued precision strikes against Kadhafi regime military installations in Tripoli overnight, "including striking a known command and control building in the Bab al-Aziziya neighbourhood shortly after 1800 GMT Saturday evening."

Automatic gunfire, apparently in mourning, echoed across Tripoli and state TV showed flag-waving demonstrators it said were mourning Seif al-Arab's death.

In the rebel capital of Benghazi, overjoyed rebels fired rockets, Kalashnikovs and anti-aircraft guns and set off TNT for more than a half an hour, rocking the eastern Libyan city with sustained gunfire and explosions.

"They are so happy that Kadhafi lost his son in an air strike that they are shooting in celebration," said Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, military spokesman of the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council (TNC) there.

Cars drove along the seafront, horns blaring, as people shouted "God is greatest" below a night sky streaked with red tracer fire.

Earlier, Ibrahim took journalists to a heavily damaged house in Tripoli, hinting but not explicitly indicating this was the one in which Kadhafi's son had died.

Long, twisted rods of reinforcing steel bars protruding from large chunks of blasted concrete in and around the structure. Part of the roof had caved in and walls had collapsed. A thick layer of dark grey dust covered the grounds.

Given the level of destruction, it was improbable that anyone present could have survived.

NATO vowed to stage more strikes, although the commander of Operation Unified Protector stressed that "we do not target individuals."

"All NATO's targets are military in nature and have been clearly linked to the... regime's systematic attacks on the Libyan population and populated areas," said Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard.

The statement said the raids would continue until all attacks and threats against civilians had ceased and until all of Kadhafi's forces, "including his snipers, mercenaries and paramilitary forces have verifiably withdrawn to their bases, and until there is full, free and unhindered access to humanitarian aid to all those in Libya who need it."

In a Saturday speech on state television, Kadhafi had said NATO "must abandon all hope of his departure."

"I have no official functions to give up: I will not leave my country and will fight to the death," he said.

But he added a conciliatory note: "We are ready to talk with France and the United States, but with no preconditions.

"We will not surrender, but I call on you to negotiate. If you want petrol, we will sign contracts with your companies -- it is not worth going to war over.

"Between Libyans, we can solve our problems without being attacked, so pull back your fleets and your planes," he told NATO.

His call was dismissed by the TNC, which has shaped itself into a parallel government in Benghazi, and by NATO.

"The time for compromise has passed," said TNC vice chairman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga. "The people of Libya cannot possibly envisage or accept a future Libya in which Kadhafi's regime plays any role."

In Brussels, a NATO official also rejected talks, saying: "We need to see not words but actions."

The regime threatened to attack any ships trying to enter the rebel-held port of Misrata, after tanks launched an assault on the city east of Tripoli.

Misrata's port is a crucial conduit for humanitarian aid to the city of half a million, which Kadhafi's forces have been trying to capture for more than seven weeks.

The fighting in Misrata has intensified 10 weeks after government forces launched a deadly crackdown on protests inspired by regime-changing movements in Tunisia and Egypt.

An AFP correspondent in Misrata said 10 people had been killed and 20 wounded by mid-afternoon on Saturday, with witnesses saying as many as five tanks were seeking to advance on the city from the airport.

Loyalist forces were pushed back from Misrata by the rebels and NATO air strikes on Monday, with the rebels saying they had secured the port and their next objective was the airport.

But state television said the military had "put the port out of service," and that humanitarian aid to Misrata should now be delivered "overland and under the supervision of the armed forces."

In Benghazi, rebels said loyalists had stormed the eastern oasis town of Jalo, several hundred kilometres south, and killed five people.

"It seems Kadhafi is trying to open another front in the south," said a rebel source, while TNC spokesman Jalal al-Gallal worried that the attack was "not a great sign."

burs/srm

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