NATO bombs rock Tripoli

LIBYA: A NATO bombing blitz, which the alliance insisted was not aimed at Moamer Kadhafi, rocked Tripoli yesterday, as rebels in besieged Misrata claimed to be pushing back the Libyan strongman’s forces.

NATO said that since the alliance took over military operations on March 31 to protect civilians from pro-Kadhafi forces, jets have conducted almost 6,000 sorties, including more than 2,300 strike missions.

Bombs were not dropped during all of those missions, figures showed, as officials insisted again the raids were not aimed at killing Kadhafi, who has ruled the north African nation for more than four decades.

“All NATO targets are military targets, which means that the targets we’ve been hitting, and it happened also last night in Tripoli, are command and control bunkers,” Brigadier General Claudio Gabellini told reporters. “NATO is not targeting individuals,” he said via videolink from the operation’s headquarters in Naples, Italy.

But asked whether Kadhafi was still alive, the Italian NATO general said: “We don’t have any evidence. We don’t know what Kadhafi is doing right now.”

Early Tuesday jets had screamed in low over the capital, Tripoli, in a heavy bombardment lasting roughly three hours, an AFP correspondent said.

The blasts came after NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said time was running out for Kadhafi, who had to “realise sooner rather than later that there’s no future for him or his regime.” Kadhafi survived a similar NATO bombing on May 1 in Tripoli, which killed his second-youngest son, Seif al-Arab, and three of his grandchildren.

Inspired by the uprisings in other Arab nations, rebels have been fighting since mid-February to oust Kadhafi but have met with stiff resistance despite gaining a foothold in the eastern city of Benghazi.

An AFP correspondent said the rebels had forced government troops about 15 kilometres (10 miles) from Misrata, advancing to Dafnia, and were readying to move on Zliten, the next major town on the road to Tripoli.

Haj Mohammed, a rebel commander, said “every day we manage to advance along the coastal road toward Zliten. Yesterday 15 kilometres (10 miles), today only two, but the advance is unstoppable.”

Rebels were using shipping containers to shield themselves from loyalist fire, and bulldozers were pushing them forward as the advance continued.

Ahmad Hassan, a rebel spokesman in Misrata, said the insurgents had also “liberated” areas south and east of the city, killing many Kadhafi troops and seizing a large amount of weapons. Eighteen rebels and civilians were wounded. TRIPOLI, Wednesday, AFP