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Tripoli holds mass funeral for civilian victims

25 March 2011 04:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Hundreds of mourners have attended a mass funeral in Tripoli for what the government has called civilian victims of coalition bombing raids over the last few days. Mourners, including soldiers, held a funeral procession at a cemetery overlooking the capital, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

A Libyan government spokesman claimed the death toll from international air strikes was "getting close to 100". He said all the victims were civilians, even those working at military air bases killed during air strikes. Some fear the country could go the same way as Iraq after the US invasion, which unleashed sectarian strife and violence.

Moussa Ibrahim, Libyan Govâ€™t Spokesman, said, "Civilians, no I ask about civilians. There are of course people, let me tell you something, for example when you hit an airport. The city airports have been targeted, and these airports are civilian airports and people work there. What do you call them? They are civilians. When you hit an air force academy there are students studying there, so when these students die they are not army people, they are not armed soldiers, professional, who are fighting. They are students."