Nato bomb 'kills nine Libyan civilians' as stray air strike is blamed on 'system failure' - A Nato air strike hit a civilian house in Tripoli and killed nine residents, the Libyan regime said yesterday.
Nato admitted on Sunday that its weapons destroyed a house in Tripoli in an incident likely to sow new doubts inside the alliance about its mission in Libya.
The strike on the house was the clearest case yet of a bombing causing multiple civilian casualties, and comes at a time when the alliance is already under strain from a campaign that is taking more time and resources than its backers had expected.
Scene of destruction: Members of the media and others examine the remains of the residential building damaged in this morning's airstrike
Nato last night admitted that a ‘weapons system failure’ may have been responsible for a missile going astray.
A spokesman said: ‘Nato regrets the loss of innocent civilian lives and takes great care in conducting strikes against a regime determined to use violence against its own citizens.
‘Although we are still determining the specifics of this event, indications are that a weapons system failure may have caused this incident.’
Nato did not disclose which country’s aircraft were involved, although the Ministry of Defence said RAF warplanes were not operating in the area at the time.
Libyan government officials took reporters to a residential area in Tripoli’s Souq al-Juma district, where they saw a body being pulled out of the rubble of a destroyed building.
Later, in a hospital, they were shown the bodies of a child and two others who, officials said, were among a total of nine people killed in the strike.
Casualty: A damaged car lies crushed beneath rubble from the destroyed residential block
‘There was intentional and deliberate targeting of the civilian houses,’ deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said. ‘This is another sign of the brutality of the West.’
Nato has been pounding targets in Libya for months in what the alliance says is an operation to protect civilians who rebelled against Colonel Gaddafi’s 41-year rule. Strains are appearing within Nato member states as the campaign drags on for longer than most of its backers anticipated and Gaddafi remains in power – even making a show of defiance last week by playing chess with a visiting official.
Obliterated: Rescue workers shift debris in their search for survivors following last night's airstrike
Rebels from the city of Misrata, about 130 miles east of Tripoli, have been trying to push west towards the capital but on Sunday they took heavy casualties when they came under fire from pro-Gaddafi forces.
A doctor at a field hospital near the front line in Dafniyah, just west of Misrata, said eight fighters had been killed and 36 wounded.
After four months of civil war, rebels control the eastern third of Libya, the port city of Misrata and much of the Western Mountains region. But they are a long way from seizing their prize – Gaddafi’s powerbase of Tripoli and its hinterland – despite air support from the world’s most powerful military alliance.
War zone: Libyan authorities say the civilian building was deliberately targeted by Nato missiles
Innocent victims: Children inspect the rubble of what Libyan authorities claim was a hotel damaged by a Nato airstrike on Thursday
On the attack: Rebels battling government troops have launched a push out of the city of Misrata towards Tripoli, but have come under intense fire themselves ( dailymail.co.uk )
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