Libyans yesterday buried what Muammar Gaddafi’s regime claimed were 11 Muslim clerics killed in a Nato air strike on the oil city of Brega that the alliance said had targeted a military site.

In Paris, meanwhile, senior Libyan rebel leader Mahmud Jibril met President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the three-month-old conflict and the prospects for a transition.

At least 50 other people were wounded in the Nato attack on the eastern city of Brega that killed 11 imams, or prayer leaders, early on Friday, with five of them in critical condition, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said.

Hundreds of people gathered at the cemetery in Shatia al-Henshir, east of the capital, shouting “jihad, jihad”, “martyrs of Libya” and “God, Libya and Muammar.”

Major Khuildi al-Hamidi, a long-time confidante of Gaddafi, attended the burial, which was punctuated by commemorative gunfire.

In contrast to government accounts, Nato said a “command and control bunker was struck in Brega early (Friday) morning, as the structure was being used by the Gaddafi regime to coordinate strikes against the Libyan civilian population.”

“We are aware of allegations of civilian casualties in connection to this strike and although we cannot independently confirm the validity of the claim we regret any loss of life by innocent civilians when they occur.”

An imam at a news conference with Ibrahim, identified as Nureddin al-Mijrah, called for revenge.

He urged Muslims across the world “to take revenge for our brothers who died today.

“For every man we should take down one thousand men... from France, Italy, Denmark, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.”

Gaddafi, whom Italy claimed last Friday might be wounded and on the run, said he was beyond the reach of Nato bombs.

“I want to say to the Crusader cowards that I live in a place where I cannot be reached or killed; I live in the hearts of millions,” he said in an audio message aired late on Friday on state television.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini had said Gaddafi was “probably outside of Tripoli and probably also injured”, and that the reports came from the Roman Catholic bishop of Tripoli.

But the bishop, Giovanni Martinelli, denied making such comment.

“What the foreign minister said is not right because I never said that the Libyan leader was wounded,” he told Radio France Internationale.

“I only said that he was under psychological shock from the death of his son. I did not say he was wounded or that he left Tripoli.”

An April 30 air strike missed Gaddafi but killed his son, Seif al-Arab, and three of his grandchildren.

Ibrahim told reporters that Gaddafi was “in very good health, high morale, high spirits,” and “he is in Tripoli”.

Gaddafi’s audio message appeared to have been made after a Nato strike on his Bab al-Aziziya compound early on Thursday, because he referred to “the martyrdom of three civilians, journalists”.

Late on Friday and early yesterday, a series of six loud explosions rocked Tripoli as jets flew overhead. Smoke could be seen rising from one of the sites in eastern Tripoli, witnesses said.

On the battlefield, rebels reportedly made new progress in their advance towards the eastern and western boundaries of the western port city of Misurata.

An AFP correspondent said they had moved 20 kilometres in the east to reach the gates of Tavarga and in the west they reached the gates of the city of Zliten – their next main military target on the road to Tripoli.

Nato said it hit two tanks in the vicinity of Brega last Friday and listed other “key hits” that day to include a “command and control node” in Tripoli as well as two surface-to-air missile launchers in the capital’s vicinity.

The alliance also reported having struck 20 armoured vehicle storage buildings around Tripoli last Friday, as well as an armoured personnel carrier and four military trucks in the Misurata area.

Key events in Libya crisis

• February 15-19: Protests against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in the eastern city of Benghazi and nearby Al-Baida are put down forcefully, but the movement spreads and turns into an insurrection.

• February 23-25: Rebels gain control of the area from the Egyptian border to Ajdabiya, as the UN estimates 1,000 lives were lost since the revolt began.

• February 28: The EU follows the US and the UN in applying sanctions to Gaddafi’s regime.

• March 10: France recognises the rebel leadership diplomatically.

• March 19: French, US and British forces, under a UN mandate, launch air strikes on Gaddafi forces, who retreat from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

• March 26-28: Benefiting from Western air strikes, rebels advance westwards, taking several key towns.

• March 30: Gaddafi’s forces push back. Libyan foreign minister Mussa Kussa defects to Britain.

• March 31: Nato takes command of the coalition campaign.

• April 1: In a ‘friendly fire’ incident, Nato attacks kill nine rebels and four civilians.

• April 10-11: An African Union delegation meets Gaddafi and the rebels. The former accepts their peace plan, but the latter reject it.

• April 20: France, Italy and Britain send military advisers to assist the rebel shadow government in Benghazi.

• April 23: The US says it has launched its first strike using an unmanned military aircraft.

• April 24: Rebels make gains in Misurata, where at least 55 are killed in 48 hours.

• April 25: A Nato air strike wrecks Gaddafi’s office in his Tripoli residence.

• April 27: Rebels backed by Nato air strikes say they secured the port of Misurata.

• Nato allies agree to establish a civilian post in Benghazi.

• April 28: Blasts rock Tripoli.

• April 29: Rebels and Gaddafi’s forces battle for Misurata airport.

• April 30: A Nato air strike kills Gaddafi’s youngest son, Seif al-Arab, and three of his grandchildren.

• April 30: Gaddafi vows not to quit but calls for talks to end the conflict. Nato and rebels decline.

• May 1: The Italian and British embassies attacked in Tripoli. Britain expels the Libyan ambassador. The UN pulls its staff out of Tripoli.

• May 4: The ICC’s chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says he will seek three arrest warrants for crimes against humanity in Libya.

• May 5: International powers open a fund to aid Libya’s rebels.

• May 11: Rebels take Misurata airport and push Gaddafi troops west, breaking the siege of the city as the EU says it will open an office in Benghazi.

• May 12: British PM David Cameron invites the rebels to open a permanent office in London.

• May 13: Tripoli says 11 imams were killed by a Nato bomb and that it will not try to reclaim rebel-held eastern cities.

• May 14: Explosions rock Tripoli and the US declines to formally recognise the rebel leadership.