LIBYA: Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim says dozens have been injured and three killed in latest NATO airstrikes on Tripoli

Record ID: 575127

  • Title: LIBYA: Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim says dozens have been injured and three killed in latest NATO airstrikes on Tripoli
  • Date: 25th May 2011
  • Summary: TRIPOLI, LIBYA (MAY 24, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR HOSPITAL HOSPITAL SIGN MAN ON STRETCHER CROWDS INSIDE THE HOSPITAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) MUSSA IBRAHIM, LIBYAN GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN SAYING: You understand of course the chaos of the whole situation because dozens of people have been injured. We have three martyrs so far. The injured have been taken to two different hospitals. This is one of them. Some of them of course were treated and they have been home already because of their light injuries, some have bigger, more serious injuries. Some have died of course as you have seen. INJURED LYING IN HOSPITAL BED MAN ON STRETCHER BEING WHEELED OUT INJURED ON HOSPITAL BED TALKING TO MEDIA THREE DEAD BODIES ON STRETCHERS
  • Embargoed: 9th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: War / Fighting,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA8KBPWQI601M2HPLIBJOLML0SP
  • Story Text: Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim took western journalists to one of two hospitals in Tripoli on Tuesday (May 24) where he said injured from the latest NATO attack were being treated.
    Ibrahim said dozens of people were hurt and three killed.
    The NATO air raids, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, appeared to be the heaviest since the start of the campaign against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and on the day France said it would deploy attack helicopters to achieve more accurate strikes on his forces.
    Two months of Western bombardment of Libya using high-flying fixed-wing planes has damaged Gaddafi's forces, but not enough to break a military stalemate three months into an uprising against his four-decade rule.
    Helicopters would make it easier to hit urban or embedded targets with precision while avoiding civilian casualties, but they would also be more vulnerable to ground fire.
    Ibrahim said NATO targetted a compound of the Popular Guards, a tribally-based military detachment. He said the compound was largely empty and the casualties were people living in the vicinity.
    "You understand of course the chaos of the whole situation because dozens of people have been injured. We have three martyrs so far. The injured have been taken to two different hospitals. This is one of them. Some of them of course were treated and they have been home already because of their light injuries, some have bigger, more serious injuries. Some have died of course as you have seen," said Ibrahim inside a hospital.
    The strikes went on for about one hour and there were at least 12 loud explosions that rocked the capital and rattled windows.
    They appeared to be around one of Gaddafi's compound but the target was not yet confirmed.
    Minders taking the journalists to the hospital showed the dead bodies of three men they said were victims of the latest bombings. They all had severe head injuries and it could not be independently confirmed if they had been killed by the NATO raids.
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