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NATO airstrikes hit Tripoli, heaviest bombing yet

Tue, 24 May 2011 12:43:00 +0000

NATO pounded the capital with more 20 airstrikes Tuesday in its most intense bombardment yet against Moammar Gadhafi's stronghold of Tripoli, while a senior U.S. diplomat said President Barack Obama has invited the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council to open an office in Washington.

The international community has been stepping up airstrikes and diplomatic efforts against the regime in a bid to break a virtual stalemate, with the rebels in the east and Gadhafi maintaining his hold on most of the west.

The NATO airstrikes hit in rapid succession within a half-hour time span, setting off a series of explosions and sending up plumes of acrid-smelling smoke from an area around Gadhafi's sprawling Bab al-Aziziya compound in central Tripoli.

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said at least three people were killed and dozens wounded in NATO strikes that targeted what he described as buildings used by volunteer units of the Libyan army.

NATO said in a statement that a number of precision-guided weapons hit a vehicle storage facility adjacent to Bab al-Aziziya that has been used to supply regime forces "conducting attacks on civilians." It was not immediately clear if the facility was the only target hit in the barrage. Bab al-Aziziya, which includes a number of military facilities, has been pounded repeatedly by NATO strikes.

NATO bombs ships in broadest strike on Libyan navy

Fri, 20 May 2011 20:59:00 +0000

NATO warplanes bombed Libyan naval vessels in three ports on Friday, leaving ships partially sunken and charred and showering docks with debris in the military alliance's broadest attack on Moammar Gadhafi's navy.

NATO said the overnight bombing runs were meant to protect the nearby rebel-held port of Misrata, the only major city in the western half of Libya that is under the control of the fighters trying to end Gadhafi's nearly 40-year rule. One of the attacks struck the main port of Tripoli, and reporters could see flames and smoke pouring up into the night sky from stricken vessels.

In a later tour of the area, journalists saw three partially submerged boats armed with missile launchers docked alongside one another. The blasts peeled away part of a gun turret. Altogether, eight coast guard boats and one docked frigate under repair were hit at the three ports, said Commandant Omran al-Forjani, head of Libya's coast guard.

At NATO headquarters in Brussels, the alliance confirmed its warplanes targeted the boats and accused Libya of using its ships in the escalating conflict, including attempts to mine the Misrata's harbor, a key lifeline to the besieged city. The other ports hit were in the city of Khoms, between Tripoli and Misrata, and in Sirte, farther east, Libyan officials said.

Tripoli sites bombed, rebels claim successes

Tue, 10 May 2011 13:48:00 +0000

NATO warplanes struck Tripoli early Tuesday in the heaviest bombing of the Libyan capital in weeks, while rebels reported battlefront successes in the east and west.

In the besieged port city of Misrata, the rebel's only urban stronghold in the west, a doctor said rebel forces had pushed outward to Dafniya, a town on western outskirts.

The doctor, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, said fighting was taking place both in Dafniya and near the airport south of Misrata. Were the rebels able to punch through past Dafniya, it would increase the prospects of a further advance through the coastal town of Zlitan and toward Tripoli itself.

The rebels posted video clips calling on Gadhafi's forces in the area to surrender and saying they had advanced about 15 miles (25 kilometers) outward from central Misrata.

"We are after you Gadhafi," one of the fighters in the video said.

In eastern Libya, rebels reported ongoing fighting between the towns of Ajdabiya and Brega.

A rebel commander, Zakaria al-Mismari, told reporters that Gadhafi's forces had advanced on their positions with about a dozen vehicles on Monday, but were beaten back.

More than 1,000 killed in Ivory Coast town

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:57:00 +0000

More than 1,000 civilians have been killed in a western Ivory Coast town, a Catholic charity said Saturday, adding that the mass killings happened in an area under the control of forces fighting to install the country's internationally recognized president.

The U.N. military spokesman said he had no information about mass killings in Duekoue, though he confirmed there are nearly 1,000 peacekeepers based there.

Spokesman Patrick Nicholson of the Roman Catholic charity Caritas said workers visited Duekoue on Wednesday and found hundreds of bodies of civilians killed by bullets from small-arms fire and hacked to death with machetes.

He said they estimated that more than 1,000 civilians were killed.

The International Federation of the Red Cross put the death toll at Duekoue at about 800, in separate and independent visits Thursday and Friday.

Nicholson, the Caritas spokesman, said the killings occurred over three days in a neighborhood controlled by fighters loyal to internationally recognized President Alassane Ouattara, though it was not clear who the perpetrators were.

6.1 aftershock strikes Haiti

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:28:00 +0000

The most powerful aftershock yet struck Haiti on Wednesday, shaking more rubble from damaged buildings and sending screaming people running into the streets eight days after the country's capital was devastated by an apocalyptic quake.

The magnitude-6.1 temblor was the largest of more than 40 significant aftershocks that have followed the Jan. 12 quake. The extent of additional damage or injuries was not immediately clear.

Wails of terror rose from frightened survivors as the earth shuddered at 6:03 a.m. U.S. soldiers and tent city refugees alike raced for open ground, and clouds of dust rose in the capital.

The U.S. Geological Survey said Wednesday's quake was centered about 35 miles (60 kilometers) northwest of Port-au-Prince and 6.2 miles (9.9 kilometers) below the surface -- a little further from the capital than last week's epicenter was.

"It kind of felt like standing on a board on top of a ball," said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Steven Payne. The 27-year-old from Jolo, West Virginia was preparing to hand out food to refugees in a tent camp of 25,000 quake victims when the aftershock hit.

Last week's magnitude-7 quake killed an estimated 200,000 people in Haiti, left 250,000 injured and made 1.5 million homeless, according to the European Union Commission.