Khamis, the feared military commander and son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was shown on state television yesterday, days after rebels reported his death.
Tripoli denied the claim at the time, but a rebel spokesman yesterday insisted that Khamis was dead.
The broadcaster showed footage of what it said was a visit on Tuesday by the uniformed 28-year-old, Col Gaddafi’s youngest son, to a hospital to meet “victims of Nato raids”.
The date of the recording could not be confirmed. If genuine, it would be the first time Khamis had been seen in public since Friday, when rebels said a Nato strike on the western town of Zliten killed 32 people, including Khamis.
Col Gaddafi spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said at the time the claim was untrue, claiming it was “dirty lies to cover the murder of civilians” in Zliten.
Khamis trained at a Russian military academy and commands the eponymous and much-feared Khamis Brigade, one of the regime’s toughest fighting units.
Reacting to the television report, rebel spokesman Abudulah Kabir said in the city of Misurata that the insurgents were sure Khamis was dead.
“The military council has confirmed he has died; we are sure,” he said.
Meanwhile, US diplomats are visiting several African countries as part of efforts to urge leaders to press Col Gaddafi to leave power immediately, officials in Washington said on Tuesday.
Several African states, having benefited financially from Col Gaddafi’s policies, have been reluctant to call for him to step down, and have criticised the Nato-led military campaign in Libya.
Gene Cretz, the US ambassador who left Tripoli before Col Gaddafi launched his bloody crackdown on the opposition in February, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Donald Yamamoto arrived Monday in Addis Ababa, headquarters of the African Union, State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.
They “are in Africa to meet with African Union members to discuss the crisis in Libya and the need for Gaddafi to relinquish power now,” he said.
They also met Mahmud Jibril, leader of Libya’s opposition National Transitional Council (NTC), who was visiting Ethiopia.
In Brussels, the European Union slapped new sanctions on the Gaddafi regime, targeting two “economic entities” linked to human rights abuse, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.
An asset freeze and visa ban were extended to “two further entities closely linked to the perpetrators of the serious human rights abuses in Libya, given the gravity of the situation,” Ms Ashton said in a statement.