NATO jets foil Gadhafi forces' raid on Misrata
Source: Agencies |
April 28, 2011, Thursday
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NATO warplanes pounded forces loyal to Libyan leader Moaamar Gadhafi attacking the rebel-held city of Misrata, blasting fighting vehicles advancing on the port that serves as the besieged city's sole lifeline, a NATO spokeswoman said yesterday.
The battle for Misrata has become the focal point of the uprising against Gadhafi's government, and the near-constant shelling of the city by government troops over the past two months has spurred calls for more forceful international intervention to stop the bloodshed.
The alliance airstrike, which took place on Tuesday night and sent giant plumes of smoke into the air, helped repulse Gadhafi forces' attack on the city's vital port complex, alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said.
"NATO forces moved quickly to break up a force advancing on Misrata port," she said. "Several NATO aircraft were directed to the area, and following careful assessment of the risk to civilians, our pilots struck."
Damage assessments showed that six military vehicles and seven "technicals" - civilian trucks equipped with machine guns or rocket launchers - were hit.
Yesterday, the port bore signs of the ferocity of the shelling.
Rockets had blasted gapping holes in the roofs of two warehouses and blown out the windows of another building. A pillar of black smoke from a burning heap of tires ignited by the bombardment billowed over the port, and nearby the charred shells of some 250 brand new cars, all torched in the shelling, smoldered.
With Gadhafi's troops besieging the city on all sides by land, the port has become a key point in the battle for Misrata, and the assault by pro-Gadhafi forces on Tuesday temporarily suspended the flow of aid and people.
The Albanian passenger ferry Red Star 1 carrying aid and two ambulances was forced to spend the night at sea, and only docked late yesterday morning.
The Libyan government has denied that it engages in indiscriminate shelling of civilian population centers.
The United Nations Security Council used evidence of attacks on civilians as grounds for its resolution authorizing an international campaign of airstrikes against Gadhafi's forces which has neutralized much of their heavy weapons and staved off total rebel defeat in the east.
The battle for Misrata has become the focal point of the uprising against Gadhafi's government, and the near-constant shelling of the city by government troops over the past two months has spurred calls for more forceful international intervention to stop the bloodshed.
The alliance airstrike, which took place on Tuesday night and sent giant plumes of smoke into the air, helped repulse Gadhafi forces' attack on the city's vital port complex, alliance spokeswoman Carmen Romero said.
"NATO forces moved quickly to break up a force advancing on Misrata port," she said. "Several NATO aircraft were directed to the area, and following careful assessment of the risk to civilians, our pilots struck."
Damage assessments showed that six military vehicles and seven "technicals" - civilian trucks equipped with machine guns or rocket launchers - were hit.
Yesterday, the port bore signs of the ferocity of the shelling.
Rockets had blasted gapping holes in the roofs of two warehouses and blown out the windows of another building. A pillar of black smoke from a burning heap of tires ignited by the bombardment billowed over the port, and nearby the charred shells of some 250 brand new cars, all torched in the shelling, smoldered.
With Gadhafi's troops besieging the city on all sides by land, the port has become a key point in the battle for Misrata, and the assault by pro-Gadhafi forces on Tuesday temporarily suspended the flow of aid and people.
The Albanian passenger ferry Red Star 1 carrying aid and two ambulances was forced to spend the night at sea, and only docked late yesterday morning.
The Libyan government has denied that it engages in indiscriminate shelling of civilian population centers.
The United Nations Security Council used evidence of attacks on civilians as grounds for its resolution authorizing an international campaign of airstrikes against Gadhafi's forces which has neutralized much of their heavy weapons and staved off total rebel defeat in the east.
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