TRIPOLI, Libya—Waves of Nato fighter planes hit the Libyan capital on Tuesday with one of the largest bombardments of the city since the Western-led alliance began air strikes almost three months ago.
By one unofficial count, almost two dozen explosions were heard across Tripoli in the daylight hours. After a pause, bombing resumed shortly after 6 p.m., rocking the city anew. The sound of aircraft was followed by thunderous blasts, over and over again. Occasional bursts of anti-aircraft fire could also be heard.
A Nato official said the targets hit were “command and control” centers belonging to the government of Muammar Qaddafi. There was no immediate word on casualties.
One government official said several military barracks were struck. Commanders have moved concentrations of troops away from some barracks. State television reported that some residential complexes were damaged. Qaddafi’s sprawling Bab Azizia compound was heavily hit. Plumes of smoke arose from inside the high walls of the huge compound, which includes military, residential and government facilities.
A group of journalists taken to the compound saw at least six buildings destroyed. Smoke drifted from the debris. An acrid smell hung in the air. Several of the buildings had been hit in previous air strikes, but were bombed again on Tuesday.
Littering the streets of the huge compound were shards of metal, chunks of concrete, twisted strands of rebar and assorted other debris, all blasted off buildings and walls. Visitors had to climb over hillocks of rubble to gaze inside what were once administrative, ceremonial and office buildings, the core of Qaddafi’s capital.
Inside the compound, angry workers shouted at journalists and vowed revenge for the attacks. One official, who called himself Ali and wore a scarf across his face, said as many as a dozen people may be buried below the rubble of one building, an administrative center where Qaddafi often met visiting dignitaries.
Workers showed journalists the body of one apparent victim, a middle-aged man whose name was given as Musbah Hassan Nasr. His corpse was wrapped in a blanket and covered in fine dust.
“Who will take revenge for the death of this martyr?” shouted Ali, the man who guided journalists through the devastated compound. “This is a man with children. Who will take care of his family?”
The body was put on a stretcher and taken away in an ambulance.
Nato planes buzzed overhead as Ali berated the journalists.
We could all be hit again!” he shouted. “We will never forsake our leader,” he added, referring to Qaddafi. “We will never abandon him!” A sign at the entrance to the compound reads: “Welcome on the soil of the steadfast resistance.”
Whether Qaddafi goes to the often-bombed compound these days remains unclear. Western officials say the Libyan leader is in hiding, sleeping in different locations each night. Nato says it is not trying to assassinate
Qaddafi, despite several bombings that came close to him.
A Nato-led alliance began bombing government targets in March under the mandate of a UN resolution to protect civilians from Qaddafi’s government. Nato is also enforcing a no-fly zone and patrolling the Mediterranean as part of an arms embargo against Libya.
