Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

Libya Buries 11 Imams ‘Killed in NATO Strike’

Libya Buries 11  Imams ‘Killed in NATO Strike’

TRIPOLI - Libyans on Saturday buried 11 Muslim clerics killed in what Moamer Kadhafi's regime said was a NATO air strike on the oil city of Brega that the alliance said had targeted a military site.
In Paris, meanwhile, senior Libyan rebel leader Mahmud Jibril met President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the three-month-old conflict and the prospects for a transition.
At least 50 other people were wounded in the NATO attack on the eastern city of Brega that killed 11 imams, or prayer leaders, early Friday, with five of them in critical condition, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said.
Hundreds of people gathered at the cemetery in Shatia al-Henshir, east of the capital, shouting "jihad, jihad;" "martyrs of Libya" and "God, Libya and Moamer."

Major Khuildi al-Hamidi, a long-time confidante of Kadhafi, attended the burial, which was punctuated by commemorative gunfire.
In contrast to government accounts, NATO said a "command and control bunker was struck in Brega early (Friday) morning, as the structure was being used by the Kadhafi regime to coordinate strikes against the Libyan civilian population."
"We are aware of allegations of civilian casualties in connection to this strike and although we cannot independently confirm the validity of the claim we regret any loss of life by innocent civilians when they occur."

An imam at a news conference with Ibrahim, identified as Nureddin al-Mijrah, called for revenge.
He urged Muslims across the world "to take revenge for our brothers who died today. For every man we should take down one thousand men... from France, Italy, Denmark, Britain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates."
Kadhafi, whom Italy claimed on Friday might be wounded and on the run, said he was beyond the reach of NATO bombs.
"I want to say to the Crusader cowards that I live in a place where I cannot be reached or killed; I live in the hearts of millions," he said in an audio message aired late Friday on state television.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini had said Kadhafi was "probably outside of Tripoli and probably also injured," and that the reports came from the Roman Catholic bishop of Tripoli.
But the bishop, Giovanni Martinelli, denied making such comment.
"What the foreign minister said is not right because I never said that the Libyan leader was wounded," he told Radio France Internationale.
"I only said that he was under psychological shock from the death of his son. I did not say he was wounded or that he left Tripoli."
An April 30 air strike missed Kadhafi but killed his son, Seif al-Arab, and three of his grandchildren.

Ibrahim told reporters that Kadhafi was "in very good health, high morale, high spirits," and "he is in Tripoli."
Kadhafi's audio message appeared to have been made after a NATO strike on his Bab al-Aziziya compound early Thursday, because he referred to "the martyrdom of three civilians, journalists."
Late Friday and early Saturday, a series of six loud explosions rocked Tripoli as jets flew overhead. Smoke could be seen rising from one of the sites in eastern Tripoli, witnesses said.
On the battlefield, rebels reportedly made new progress in their advance towards the eastern and western boundaries of the western port city of Misrata.

An AFP correspondent said they had moved 20 kilometers (12 miles) in the east to reach the gates of Tavarga and in the west they reached the gates of the city of Zliten -- their next main military target on the road to Tripoli.
NATO said it hit two tanks in the vicinity of Brega on Friday and listed other "key hits" that day to include a "command and control node" in Tripoli as well as two surface-to-air missile launchers in the capital's vicinity.
The alliance also reported having struck 20 armored vehicle storage buildings around Tripoli on Friday, as well as an armored personnel carrier and four military trucks in the Misrata area.

On the diplomatic front, Jibril was received at the Elysee Palace by Sarkozy and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon.
France, Gambia, Italy and Qatar are the only countries to have formally recognized the rebels' National Transitional Council (TNC) as the Libyan people's legitimate representative.

There were no immediate details on the talks, but French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called in an interview published Saturday in Arabic daily Al-Hayat for military intervention to be stepped up. (AFP)