NATO: Airstrike targeted high-level Gadhafi command site
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- NATO confirmed Monday that it carried out an airstrike against a high-level command and control site associated with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi＇s regime -- an airstrike the Libyan government alleges killed 15 people, among them three children.
NATO said the airstrike near Zawiya followed information-gathering through reconnaissance. The target was "directly involved in coordinated and systematic attacks" against the Libyan people, a NATO statement said.
Earlier, NATO had denied the government＇s accusations, saying it was not operating in the area at the time. Later, it said it was investigating the allegations.
The incident comes a day after NATO acknowledged an errant airstrike in Tripoli may have caused "a number of civilian casualties." Libya＇s government said Sunday that nine people were killed and six injured when a NATO strike hit a residential neighborhood in the Libyan capital.
The Monday incident occurred about 4 a.m. (10 p.m. Sunday ET), said Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim, and included strikes from eight rockets. Five houses and a farm were hit in the Surman area, he said. Surman is west of Tripoli.
One of the homes belongs to Khaled el-Kweldi, a top aide to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Ibrahim said. He was not home at the time of the attack, but Khaleda el-Kweldi, a 6-year-old girl, was killed, along with Khalid el-Kweldi, a 4-year-old boy. Another 6-year-old, Salam Lanouri, was also killed, according to Ibrahim.
NATO said Sunday that a military missile site was the strike＇s intended target. "However, it appears that one weapon did not strike the intended target and that there may have been a weapons system failure," a NATO statement said.
NATO Lt.-Gen. Charles Bouchard said the organization "regrets the loss of innocent lives."
"This is cold-blooded murder," Ibrahim said at the scene of the Sunday attack. "Is this the protection of civilians? Is this really the search for peace and democracy in Libya, to attack peaceful neighborhoods of Tripoli?"
Cmdr. Mike Bracken said Sunday that NATO was doing everything it could to avoid civilian casualties, citing a case in which a missile had been diverted after it was fired last week.
The NATO statement noted that the air campaign over Libya has involved more than 11,500 sorties, "and every mission is planned and executed with tremendous care to avoid civilian casualties. NATO remains fully committed to this operation."
On Saturday, the alliance denied earlier Libyan allegations it was killing civilians.
"The claims made by Gadhafi and members of his regime are outrageous. It is Gadhafi and his regime that have been systematically and brutally attacking the Libyan people," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in response to Libyan government accusations.
The European Union＇s Foreign Affairs Council, meeting Monday in Luxembourg, stepped up sanctions on Gadhafi＇s regime, freezing assets of "six port authorities under the regime＇s control."
"The EU is taking further action against the military arsenal used by the regime against its own citizens," the organization said. Humanitarian shipments are exempt from the measure, it added.
"Time is not on Gadhafi＇s side," the organization said. "He has lost all legitimacy to remain in power. ... The time has come for a new chapter where Libyans can choose their own future."
Meanwhile, fighting was ongoing Monday between rebels and troops in Dafniya, west of Misrata. Several rounds of bombardments could be heard by a CNN crew, and three dead rebels were brought into a field hospital close to the front lines. Hospital staff said 20 other wounded rebels were also brought to the hospital. Earlier Monday, three other dead rebels were brought to a second field hospital.
At least eight people died and 30 were wounded Sunday in the fighting, according to records at Al-Hikma hospital and a field hospital where casualties were being treated. Most of the dead appear to be rebel fighters.
Bombardments began in the Dafniya area Sunday morning. A stream of wounded people flowed into a makeshift hospital in Dafniya, and witnesses reported seeing intense artillery fire coming from both sides of the clashes.
A radio station in Misrata was calling for people to donate O-positive blood to meet increased demand after the fighting Sunday.
Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said the government holds NATO, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and U.S. President Barack Obama "responsible morally and legally for this murder and crimes" for the Sunday incident.
On Saturday, NATO acknowledged its aircraft had mistakenly struck vehicles aligned with the Libyan opposition in the hotly contested eastern oil city of al-Brega. NATO expressed regret.
NATO did not provide details as to how many people, if any, died or were injured in the al-Brega strike, which took place Thursday. But in a statement Saturday, NATO admitted its forces hit vehicles that were "part of an opposition patrol," an incident the military alliance described as "unfortunate."
For weeks, NATO forces have been targeting forces loyal to Gadhafi in an effort to prevent civilian casualties. Most of those strikes have come from missiles fired from off-shore ships or aircraft flying high above the North African nation, though earlier this month British and French attack helicopters did fly closer to the ground in al-Brega to go after targets in that city more precisely.
Al-Brega is on a frontline -- east of Gadhafi＇s base in Tripoli and west of the rebels＇ headquarters in Benghazi -- in fighting that has taken place between the two sides over the past several months.
NATO said that "a column of military vehicles, including tanks," were spotted Thursday around al-Brega where Gadhafi forces "had recently been operating." During what it called "a particularly complex and fluid battle scenario," leaders in the military alliance ordered a strike after determining these vehicles posed "a threat to civilians."
"We regret any possible loss of life or injuries caused by this unfortunate incident," NATO said. |
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