The daughter of Muammar Gaddafi has launched a lawsuit for murder following the death in April of four members of her family during a Nato air strike.

Legal papers were submitted to the prosecutor's office in Brussels on Tuesday by the French lawyer for Aisha Gaddafi.

During the bombing raid on 30 April the Libyan leader's son Saif el-Arab, 29, as well as three of his grandchildren were killed. Ms Gaddafi's four-month-old daughter Mastoura was one of those who died.

She argues the coalition forces that carried out the attack are guilty of "war crimes", stating the air strike did not target a command and control post held by troops loyal to her father, but was a private residence in Tripoli where members of his family were living.

She has demanded investigators "discover, identify and punish those responsible for the murders and their accomplices".

The papers were lodged by Luc Brossollet. His office confirmed that he had travelled to the Belgian capital to begin legal proceedings.

"The target was a civil building inhabited by civilians and was neither a command post nor a military control [centre] of the Libyan regime," the legal papers state.