UK cannot verify report of death of Muammar Gaddafi's son

Britain cannot confirm reports that a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in a NATO air strike, junior foreign office minister Alistair Burt said on Sunday.

"We've no verification of that at the moment. These are still unconfirmed reports. I'm afraid we don't know one way or the other," Burt told Sky News when asked about a Libyan government statement that a NATO air strike in Tripoli had killed Gaddafi's youngest son and three grandchildren.

Burt said command and control centres were "often placed in civilian areas by forces overseas".