LIBYA: Libyan government spokesman says NATO airstrikes killed 85 civilians near coastal town of Zlitan

Record ID: 319743

  • Title: LIBYA: Libyan government spokesman says NATO airstrikes killed 85 civilians near coastal town of Zlitan
  • Date: 10th August 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RELATIVE OF SOME OF THE VICTIMS, HMID MOHAMMED, SAYING: "They are our families and our neighbours , they were sleeping after al Taraweeh prayer they had been bombed by airstrikes and the people who came to rescue them were also bombed." WIDE OF PEOPLE PRAYING BEFORE FUNERAL MORE OF PEOPLE PRAYING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING COFFINS COFFINS IN COURTYARD MAN OPENING FIRE IN AIR MAN CRYING CROWDS CHANTING MAN CARRYING GADDAFI POSTER VARIOUS OF MEN CRYING MAN CARRYING RIFLE PEOPLE GATHERING AROUND THE COFFINS
  • Embargoed: 25th August 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA36FAMTPKKP539M4N7XOMV9N32
  • Story Text: Libyan officials said on Tuesday (August 9) dozens of civilians had been killed in a NATO strike on a cluster of farmhouses east of Tripoli, but the alliance said it hit a legitimate military target.
    A strike causing large numbers of civilian casualties could undermine support in some NATO nations for a campaign to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi that has already proved much longer, bloodier and more costly than its backers had anticipated.
    A spokesman for Gaddafi's government, who took foreign reporters to the scene of the strike, said 85 people had been killed when missiles struck farm compounds in the village of Majar, about 150 km (90 miles) east of Tripoli.
    He said the dead included 33 children, 32 women and 20 men.
    "For no reason what so ever except to open the way forward for the armed gangs of Misrata to move from the south to occupy Zlitan under the protection and funding and support of NATO, 85 civilians were massacred while the world including the international media is watching." government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told reporters.
    Gaddafi's government declared three days of mourning for the victims, according to state television.
    Medical workers opened some of the body bags. One contained the body of a child who appeared to be about two years old. Another had inside the remains of a child.
    "They are our families and our neighbours , they were sleeping after al Taraweeh prayer they had been bombed by airstrikes and the people who came to rescue them were also bombed." Hmid Mohammed, relative of some of the victims, said in the morgue.
    At a news conference in Brussels, a NATO military spokesman said the target of the strikes was a military staging area which was being used to support government attacks on civilians.
    Libya's conflict -- the bloodiest of the "Arab Spring" uprisings convulsing the region -- began in February when thousands of people protested against Gaddafi.
    Western powers say the Libyan leader must relinquish power but despite months of pounding by NATO bombs, defections from his inner circle and international sanctions, Gaddafi is showing no signs of wanting to quit.
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