Fresh air raids in Tripoli
2011-04-23 07:52
Tripoli - Nato forces carried out fresh air
raids early on Saturday on Tripoli, where several blasts were heard after many
warplanes flew over the Libyan capital, AFP journalists said.
Anti-aircraft fire rang out as ambulance
sirens wailed. Al-Libya television said Tripoli was "now the target of
raids by the barbaric crusader colonialist aggressor," a euphemism for
Western forces.
Several loud blasts had already been heard in
Tripoli late on Friday, after Nato warplanes overflew Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's stronghold throughout the day.
Three explosions were heard at 18:15 in the
west of the city, followed minutes later by several more blasts.
Among the targets was a patch of bare ground
surrounded by walls and turrets whose entrance is under permanent army guard
opposite the Bab al-Aziziya residence near the centre of the capital.
Authorities who took foreign correspondents there said it was "a parking
lot".
Two bombs targeted what looked like a bunker.
At the bottom of two craters two metres wide and more than a metre deep could
be seen a layer of concrete pierced by the bombs. Nearby were a dozen empty
ammunition cases.
"They are sewers," officials
explained. They did not report any victims.
An international coalition launched air
strikes against Kadhafi's forces on March 19, in a declared mission to protect
civilians under a UN mandate. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation took
control of the operation on March 31.
- SAPA
