- Reuters - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was unhurt in a NATO airstrike on his Bab al-Aziziyah compound that left three other people dead, a government spokesman said, calling it an assassination attempt.
- Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from the besieged city of Misurata, said that fighting has increased in intensity.
"There seems to be a policy to attack civilians with mortar fire. A residential district here has recieved 16 hits, which took out two schools, and we don't know the exact casualty figures in these schools," he said.
"What we do know is it may be quite high, considering that pro-Gaddafi forces are using what is termed as indirect fire - essentially lobbying shells and tank rounds to terrorise the population." - Meanwhile, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan leader's son, struck a tone of defiance. He claimed that Gaddafi has "millions of Libyans with him" and said NATO's mission was doomed to fail.
"The bombing which targeted Muammar Gaddafi's office today...will only scare children. It's impossible that it will make us afraid or give up or raise the white flag," he was quoted as saying by the Jana state news agency.
"You, NATO, are waging a losing battle because you are backed by traitors and spies. History has proved that no state can rely on them to win." - In Brussels, a NATO spokesman said the alliance is increasingly targeting facilities linked to Gaddafi's regime with government advances stalled on the battlefield.
"We have moved on to those command and control facilities that are used to coordinate such attacks by regime forces," the spokesman said of the strike on Bab al-Azizya.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military briefing regulations. - Theodore Karasik, defence analyst at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military analysis, speaks to Al Jazeera. You can watch it here.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Muammar Gaddafi was unhurt in a NATO airstrike (assassination attempt?) on his Bab al-Aziziyah compound
