Libya: Nato in fresh strike on Gaddafi compound

 

 The BBC's Christian Fraser was shown the aftermath of an apparent airstrike in Tripoli Nato air strikes have again hit the compound of Col Muammar Gaddafi, hours after Libyan state TV showed footage purportedly of the leader in Tripoli.

Libyan government officials said the attack in the early hours of Thursday killed three people, although this cannot be independently verified.
Correspondents said three rockets hit the base and caused extensive damage.
A video of Col Gaddafi aired Wednesday was the leader's first appearance since his son was killed two weeks ago.
Nato has repeatedly hit Tripoli this week as it intensifies its operations against Col Gaddafi, who has been fighting to crush a three-month old rebellion against his rule.
Embassy dispute Smoke rose from the Gaddafi compound, Bab al-Azaziya, and ambulances raced through the city as the last missile struck early on Thursday, reports said.

Bab al-Aziziya is a city within a city. A sprawling network of government buildings protected by towering concrete blast walls. It has been hit many times during this conflict.
There were three further strikes in the early hours of this morning. Two of the rockets hit roads between buildings.
From one of the holes protruded iron bars. We were told by officials that it was an electricity point. It looked more like a bunker, of the kind we know run beneath this compound but the damage was extensive and impossible to tell.
The other target was a building they claim to be an administrative block, but it is surrounded by infra-red sensors, suggesting that access to this building was restricted.

Journalists were taken by government officials to the compound afterwards to survey the damage.

Libyan government spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim said that Nato, which "once again is deprived of all morals and all civilisation", had fired five missiles on the compound.
"Three people died - two of them are journalists and one was their guide who was helping them film a documentary," Mr Ibrahim told a news conference in the compound, held next to a large, water-filled crater.
He said the journalists had been filming "hundreds of people who were celebrating their resilience against Nato".
Nato has not commented on the latest strike, but has said that most of the alliance's 46 air strikes on Wednesday were focused on and around Tripoli, hitting command and control centres, ammunition dumps and anti-aircraft missile launchers.
State television also reported that the North Korean embassy in Tripoli was damaged in the overnight Nato strikes. Nato has denied this.
On Wednesday, state television showed what it is said was Col Gaddafi meeting tribal leaders in Tripoli earlier that day.

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Col Gaddafi appeared to be in good health in the video

It was the first appearance of the leader since his son and three grandchildren were killed two weeks ago in a previous Nato strike on the Bab al-Azaziya compound.
In the footage, Col Gaddafi was dressed in his trademark brown robes, dark sunglasses and black hat. He appeared to be in good health.
'Primary partner'

Meanwhile, the US government has said it has invited representatives of Libya's opposition to the White House on Friday.We need light weapons, which is not equivalent to Gaddafi's weaponry, but perhaps with courage, which Libyan people have, there may be some kind of balance”

Mustafa Abdel Jalil Rebel leader 

A delegation from the Libyan Transitional National Council (TNC), including senior leader Mahmoud Gibril, will meet National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and members of the US Congress.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the US military had spent about $750m (£460m) so far on operations in Libya, reports Reuters news agency.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Thursday invited the TNC to set up an office in Britain.
After meeting TNC leaders in London, Mr Cameron praised the group and described them as "Britain's primary partner" in Libya.
At a news conference, rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil reiterated calls for the UK to provide them with weapons.
"We need some lethal weapons. The British government has offered non-lethal (gear) such as night vision equipment and body armour.
"Col Gaddafi has heavy weaponry. We need light weapons, which is not equivalent to Gaddafi's weaponry, but perhaps with courage, which Libyan people have, there may be some kind of balance," he said.
On Wednesday, eyewitnesses said Misrata airport had fallen to the rebels after hours of fighting with pro-Gaddafi forces.
Libya's third-largest city, Misrata is the only significant western rebel holdout and is strategically important because of its deep-sea port, which has become a lifeline for supplying civilians and for evacuating wounded people fleeing the fighting.