Thaindian News

London, Aug 27 (IANS) An adopted daughter of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi - who was believed to have been killed in US airstrikes in 1986 - is alive and working as a doctor in a Tripoli hospital, a media report said.

For 25 years, Gaddafi has been claiming that his adopted baby daughter Hana was killed in the airstrike. He even set up a shrine to the six-month-old baby in his Tripoli compound, with replica American missiles and furniture preserved behind glass screens.

Now, documents and photographs found in the compound by rebel troops suggest that Hana is still alive, the Daily Mail said.

She reportedly studied medicine in Tripoli, and four years ago took English classes at the British Council in the Libyan capital.

An examination paper from a Libyan medical institution was found to be written in Arabic and signed “Hana Muammar Gaddafi”.

A passport photograph of a young woman thought to be Hana, along with pictures of her with Gaddafi’s blood daughter Aisha, have been found.

Medical textbooks and photographs of a woman in her mid 20s wearing medical clothing were also found.

The 1986 airstrike - ordered by US President Ronald Reagan - was in retaliation for a Berlin nightclub bombing by Libyan agents in which two US soldiers died.

When the family’s assets were frozen in Switzerland in February after the uprisings began, Hana was listed in documents as one of 23 members of the Gaddafi family.

Her date of birth was given as Nov 11, 1985, making her 25 if she is still alive.

German newspaper Die Welt also reported that Hana was a doctor who worked for Libya’s health ministry.

She was a powerful figure within Libya, and even used her status to block the careers and promotions of colleagues, it said.