Libya declares new ceasefire as Gaddafi residence building destroyed
Soldiers survey the damage to a building hit by a missile in Muammar Gaddafi's Tripoli compound. Source: AP
1 of 3
UPDATE 12.15pm: A MISSILE strike has destroyed an administrative building of Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli, according to reports, as coalition officials denied the embattled Libyan leader was being targeted.
The building, 50 metres from the tent where Gaddafi generally meets guests, was apparently flattened, AFP reported.
It is not clear when the missile strike was launched but a picture of the compound broadcast on Fox News showed Libyan soldiers standing in front of piles of rubble.
The building was hit by a missile, Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told journalists, who were taken to the site by bus.
A senior US military official did not say who had fired the missile but told Fox News Channel the attack had not been aimed at Ghadafi. They did not rule out British forces being behind the strike.
Another official told CNN that the compound was targeted because it contained capabilities to exercise command and control over Libyan forces.
Libya slammed the attack.
"This was a barbaric bombing which could have hit hundreds of civilians gathered at the residence of Muammar Gaddafi about 400 meters away from the building which was hit," Ibrahim claimed.
He denounced the "contradictions in Western discourses," saying: "Western countries say they want to protect civilians while they bomb the residence knowing there are civilians inside."
Scores of Gaddafi supporters rushed towards the complex at Bab el-Aziziya in the south of the Libyan capital after a rumor spread that a plane had been shot down and crashed, AFP reported.
"Where is the plane?" several of them, mainly youths, cried.
Smoke billowed from the residence and barracks as anti-aircraft guns fired shots.
Tripoli was rocked by powerful explosions overnight, just as the Libyan army announced a new ceasefire, saying it was heeding an African Union call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.
The United States accused Tripoli of breaching the truce almost immediately.
Pentagon spokesman Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said, "I question anything Gaddafi calls for" and UN Chief Ban Ki-moon said only he hoped Libyan authorities would "keep their word".
A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said: "Everyone will recall that in recent days Colonel Gaddafi declared a ceasefire which was promptly violated. We said then we would judge him on his actions not his words - and we will do so again."
Libya operational briefing at The Pentagon
Vice Admiral Bill Gortney gives an operational update on Libya at The Pentagon in Washington.
Source: AP
The ceasefire announcement came roughly 24 hours after the strikes by an international coalition debilitated Gaddafi's air defense system as part of establishing a no-fly zone over the country.
Vice Admiral Gortney said the attacks had been "very effective in significantly degrading the regime air defense capability," but the coalition was not ruling out further air strikes.
He also said the rebel stronghold of Benghazi "is not completely safe from attack, but it is certainly under less threat than it was yesterday. We believe [Gaddafi 's] forces are under significant stress and suffering from isolation and a good deal of confusion."
US Defense Secretary Roberts Gates said the United States would not play a "pre-eminent role" in military action against Libya, with other countries soon taking the lead, AFP reported.
"It is pretty clear that we agreed to use our unique capabilities and with the breadth of those capabilities at the front end of this process, then we expected in a matter of days to be able to turn over the primary responsibility to others," he said aboard a military aircraft en route to Russia.
Heavy anti-aircraft fire and a blast were heard in Tripoli overnight near Gaddafi's residence but Vice Admiral Gortney said neither the Libyan leader, nor his home, were a target of coalition forces.
He also said military officials had received no reports of civilian casualties, despite Libyan government claims to the contrary.
There has been no verifiable casualty toll yet for either government forces, rebels or civilians since fighting began in mid-February.
However, rebel spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told Al Jazeera, "Our dead and martyrs number more than 8000 killed."
In the face of the strikes, Gaddafi delivered a defiant tirade against the international coalition on state television, claiming: "All the Libyan people are united. The Libyan men and women have been given weapons and bombs ... You will not advance, you will not step on this land. We promise you a long, drawn-out war with no limits.
"We are ready for a long war. You are not prepared for a long war in Libya. We are prepared. This is a very happy moment we are living.
"America, France, or Britain, the Christians that are in a pact against us today, they will not enjoy our oil ... You are aggressors, you are animals. We do not have to retreat from the battlefield because we are defending our land and our dignity," he added.
His words came in a telephone call and his whereabouts were unknown.
However, a "human shield" of civilians, including women and children, was reportedly formed around his compound, according to the New York Times.
British RAF Tornado takes off for Libya
A British RAF Tornado GR4 warplane takes off from RAF Marham in England.
Source: AP
Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, said Sunday in an interview with ABC's This Week that the coalition strikes stemmed from a "big misunderstanding" and called the rebels battling his father's nearly four decades of rule "gangsters" and "terrorists."
The government issued its first ceasefire Friday, but when Gaddafi's troops blatantly ignored it by advancing on the rebel-held stronghold of Benghazi, the wave of international assaults began.
The announcement of the latest ceasefire by an armed forces spokesman said it would begin at 7pm GMT (6am AEDT). The spokesman also called for a symbolic march "of all people" from Tripoli to Benghazi to discuss homeland affairs.
As part of the West's biggest intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, a total of 124 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired by Sunday afternoon, Fox News reported. That figure included 122 from US ships and submarines and two from British vessels.
"It's not necessary to talk about this in terms of waves. The attacks are ongoing and this is not over," a senior military official told Fox before the ceasefire announcement.
US defense officials said that three B-2 Stealth bombers also flew non-stop from Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., dropping 40 bombs on a major Libyan airfield in an attempt to destroy much of Gaddafi's air force.
France deployed "more than 15 aircraft" in ground strikes Sunday, said a spokesman for the military's general staff, Colonel Thierry Burkhard, AFP reported.
"More than 15 aircraft were engaged, representing a wide range of [French] air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities," Burkhard told a news conference.
He said the planes had conducted "air defense [operations] and ground support, refueling, air surveillance and detection."
Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Fox News Sunday that Western forces had established "24/7" combat air patrols over the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, leaving Gaddafi's air force paralysed.
"We've had a pretty significant impact in this first 24 hours ... I would say the no-fly zone we were tasked to put in place is now in place," Admiral Mullen said.
It is believed at least 94 people died in the assault launched on Saturday on Benghazi by forces loyal to Gaddafi before the coalition onslaught.
Admiral Mullen also said the goal of the military action was to protect Libyan civilians, not necessarily to oust Gaddafi.
"Clearly we have taken down the important nodes that remove his capability," Mullen said.
Mohammed Achmed
Five-year-old Libyan boy Mohammed Achmed is treated by a doctor in the Jalaa hospital in Benghazi, eastern Libya after he received bullet wounds to his chest as fighting broke out. He was with his mother who also received bullet wounds. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
Source: AP
Earlier, he said he had not seen any evidence of civilian casualties, despite government claims that planes had bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing casualties.
A Libyan official had told AFP at least 48 people had died and 150 were hurt - mainly women and children - in the coalition assaults, dubbed Operation Odyssey Dawn by the US, and Operation Ellamy by the UK.
In a key note of dissent, the international strikes were condemned by the Arab League, just a week after it urged the United Nations to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mussa said: "What has happened in Libya differs from the goal of imposing a no-fly zone and what we want is the protection of civilians and not bombing other civilians."
Meanwhile, a senior US defense official told Fox that Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan have agreed in principle to be a part of the international coalition.
Following a meeting in the Mauritanian capital, the African Union's panel on Libya called for an "immediate stop" to all attacks and asked Libyan authorities to ensure "humanitarian aid to those in need", as well as the "protection of foreigners, including African expatriates living in Libya".
It underscored the need for "necessary political reforms to eliminate the causes of the present crisis", but at the same time called for "restraint" from the international community to avoid "serious humanitarian consequences".
The panel also announced a meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on March 25, along with representatives from the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the European Union and the United Nations, to "put in place a mechanism for consultation and concerted action" to resolve the Libyan crisis.
US President Barack Obama, giving a speech during a trip to Brazil, referred only in passing to the situation in the Arab world, saying, "We've seen the people of Libya take a courageous stand against a regime determined to brutalize its own citizens ... No one can say for certain how this change will end, but I do know that change is not something that we should fear."
China, Russia and India have expressed their "regret" over the strikes on Libya and appealed for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
China and Russia were the two most prominent nations in opposition to the military action in Libya within the 15-member UN Security Council.
However, the nations did not block the UN Resolution 1973 which authorized the operation, and chose instead to abstain from the vote.
