AJDABIYA, Libya — NATO launched new airstrikes Wednesday on targets held by Moammar Gadhafi as the rebel movement urged a stronger air campaign that will allow them to advance on Gadhafi's territory.
In Tripoli, meanwhile, Gadhafi's finance minister angrily denounced proposals by rebel leaders that they be given some of the regime's assets that were frozen as part of international sanctions.
"That is financial piracy," Finance Minister Abdulhafid Zlitni said of the idea. In all, about $120 billion in Libyan assets were frozen as part of international sanctions, Zlitni told a news conference.
Concerning Wednesday's bombings, a NATO official confirmed a strike on at least one ammunition bunker outside the Libyan capital, Tripoli. He asked that his name not be used because the military alliance was not yet releasing the information publicly.
Libya's official JANA news agency reported airstrikes Wednesday in three other places: Misrata, Libya's third-largest city; Sirte, a Gadhafi stronghold and home to the Libyan leader's tribe; and Aziziyah, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) south of Tripoli. Jana said the strike in Misrata was in an area "populated with residents."
But Mohammed Abdullah, a Misrata activist and a professor, said residents had mostly evacuated that part of Misrata several weeks ago after Gadhafi troops stormed it.
"Gadhafi troops are misleading the NATO," he said. "The Gadhafi forces turn the shops into weapon caches and then claim that the areas are residential."
Libyan rebels have been pleading for more NATO airstrikes as top Western and Arab envoys gather in Qatar's capital to discuss ways to end the Libyan crisis.
Mohamed Ismail Tajouri, a 54-year-old businessman who joined the rebels in their stronghold of Benghazi, said having a rebel delegation attend the Qatar meeting amounts to key international recognition.
"We are proud of this," he told The Associated Press. "This political development is really good for the rebels but the Gadhafi regime is not normal. He is a bloody creature, he won't leave until he spills some blood."
