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Incident

NATO strikes in Misrata but shelling resumes

28 April 2011 02:51 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. NATO air strikes forced Libyan government troops to withdraw from one of their positions in the besieged city of Misrata overnight but they resumed bombardment of the port area using Grad missiles, a rebel spokesman said, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi also fired the Russian-made Grad, a multiple-volley system which rights groups say is highly inaccurate, into the center of the rebel-held town of Zintan.
"There was intense bombardment this morning. Around 15 Grad rockets landed in the town center, two of them landed where I’m standing now," the spokesman, called Abdulrahman, said by telephone from Zintan, in the Western Mountains region.
"Five houses were destroyed. Nobody was killed, luckily, but some children were slightly wounded," he said.
A U.N. human rights group arrived in Libya to investigate accusations pro-Gaddafi forces have violated human rights and attacked civilians. Libya says security forces were forced to act against armed gangs and al Qaeda sympathizers trying to seize control of the oil exporting country.
An aid ship used a lull in shelling overnight to dock at the port of Misrata, a besieged western enclave offering a sealink to the eastern rebel heartland. It was not immediately clear whether it had had enough time to take on migrant workers and wounded rebels for evacuation before firing resumed.
Misrata has become the focus of Gaddafi’s drive to break a rebellion against his four-decade rule. But neither the army nor rebels backed by British and French-led NATO air strikes have achieved a decisive victory in weeks of fighting that have destroyed large areas of the town.
"Gaddafi’s forces retreated from the port area where they were positioned yesterday after air strikes by the NATO forces," a rebel spokesman called Reda told Reuters in Algiers by telephone from Misrata. "The strikes completely destroyed 37 military vehicles."
"Gaddafi’s forces this morning started bombarding an area about 10 km (6 miles) north of the city. It is known as the Steel area. The bombardment is still going on. They are using Grad missiles ... Warplanes are flying over Misrata’s outskirts but I don’t hear any sound of strikes," he said by telephone.
Human Rights Watch says the Grad, which takes its name from the Russian word for "hail," is one of world’s most inaccurate systems and should never be used in civilian areas.
RIGHTS GROUP IN LIBYA
U.N. investigators arrived in Tripoli and met Libyan officials.
"We have a number of questions dealing with indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, civilian casualties, torture and the use of mercenaries and other questions," said Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian legal expert and member of the U.N. commission.
Hours before the shelling resumed at Misrata, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said a vessel had docked in Misrata with the aim of evacuating Libyans wounded in the fighting, as well as migrant workers, to the eastern rebel heartland of Benghazi.
"The Red Star One has just docked and is unloading aid supplies, including ambulances," a spokesman said during a lull in the shelling.
A rebel spokesman in Misrata, Libya’s third-biggest city, said eight local people had been killed in fighting on Tuesday, up from the previous figure of three killed.
Military deadlock in Libya has exposed growing international rifts, with critics of NATO bombing calling it another case of the West trying to overthrow a regime by stretching the terms of a U.N. resolution. The rebels themselves have sometimes accused NATO of not doing enough to drive back Gaddafi’s forces.
British Defense Secretary Liam Fox said British support given to Libyan rebels including body amour and military advisers was not the first step toward arming them.
"We have been very clear that this is mentoring, not training," Fox told the parliamentary Defense committee. "We believe this is vital to their stated role and their ability to help protect the civilian population better. So it is not a first step, nor is it intended to be," he said.