A son and three grandchildren of Muammar Gadafy have been killed in a Nato air strike on a house in Triploi which the Libyan leader survived.
"What we have now is the law of the jungle," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a news conference following the air strike last night. "We think now it is clear to everyone that what is happening in Libya has nothing to do with the protection of civilians."
Col Gadafy, who seized power in a 1969 coup, is fighting an uprising by rebels who have seized much of the eastern part of the country.
British and French-led Nato forces are permitted under a United Nations resolution to mount air attacks on Gadafy forces to protect civilians.
There was no immediate Nato reaction or any independent confirmation of the deaths. Col Gadafy had appeared on television in the early hours of yesterday and said he would never step down. He offered talks to the rebels, who rejected the proposal as hollow and treacherous.
The UN said it was pulling its international staff out of Tripoli after damage was caused to its offices by angry crowds responding to the air strikes.
There were also report of protests outside the US and Italian missions in the city but it was not clear if the properties were damaged.
Libya's government took journalists to the house, which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in at some points, leaving mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging down among chunks of concrete.
A table football machine stood outside in the garden of the house, in a wealthy residential area of Tripoli. Glass and debris covered the lawns and what appeared to be an unexploded missile lay in one corner.
Inside one part of the villa, a beige corner sofa was virtually untouched, but debris had caved in on other striped upholstered chairs. The blasts had been heard across the city late last night
Rifle fire and car horns rang out in the rebels' eastern capital of Benghazi as news of the attack spread.
"The leader himself is in good health. He wasn't harmed," Mr Ibrahim said. "His wife is also in good health.
"This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country. This is not permitted by international law. It is not permitted by any moral code or principle."
He said Col Gadafy's youngest son, Saif Al-Arab, had been killed in the attack. Saif al-Arab (29) is one of Gadafy's less prominent sons, with a limited role in the power structure. Mr Ibrahim described him as a student who had studied in Germany.
"We will fight and fight if we have to," Mr Ibrahim said. "The leader offered peace to Nato yesterday and Nato rejected it."
Fighting in Libya's civil war, which grew from protests for greater political freedom, has reached stalemate in recent weeks with neither side capable of achieving a decisive blow.
Libyan forces had reached the gates of Benghazi last month when Col Gadafy appeared on television declaring he would crush the rebellion, showing "no pity, no mercy."
Days later the United Nations passed its resolution allowing the air strikes and saving the rebels from defeat.
British prime minister David Cameron declined to comment on what he called the "unconfirmed report" about members of Col Gadafy's family being killed in the Nato strike.
But he told BBC television: "The targeting policy of Nato and the alliance is absolutely clear. It is in line with the UN resolution 1973 and it is about preventing a loss of civilian life by targeting Gadafy's war-making machine, so that is obviously tanks and guns, rocket launchers, but also command and control as well."
Reuters