{"id":466738,"date":"2011-07-23T12:21:19","date_gmt":"2011-07-23T12:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/07\/23\/wave-of-loud-blasts-rock-libyan-capital\/"},"modified":"2011-07-23T12:21:19","modified_gmt":"2011-07-23T12:21:19","slug":"wave-of-loud-blasts-rock-libyan-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/07\/23\/wave-of-loud-blasts-rock-libyan-capital\/","title":{"rendered":"Wave of loud blasts rock Libyan capital"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

TRIPOLI,\u00a0 (AFP) \u2013 A wave of blasts rocked Tripoli on Saturday, including the area housing Moamer Kadhafi\u2019s complex, as his regime denied rebels attacked Libya\u2019s capital and wounded a top security official.<\/p>\n

At least seven powerful explosions were heard around 2:20 am (0020 GMT), an AFP journalist reported, as state television quoted a military official as saying NATO warplanes \u201care currently bombing civilian sites in the capital Tripoli.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two more explosions were heard in the same area at about midday.<\/p>\n

The raids are yet to be confirmed by NATO, which said it struck a command centre in Tripoli on Friday as part of UN-backed strikes launched against Kadhafi\u2019s war machine in late March to halt a crackdown on civilians.<\/p>\n

It came after rebel forces said they lost 16 fighters east of Tripoli on Friday but that they infiltrated the capital and attacked a regime command post where a son of the strongman was among officials targetted.<\/p>\n

The rebel forces, who have been fighting to oust Kadhafi for more than five months, said the assault \u201cseriously injured\u201d a high-ranking member of Kadhafi\u2019s security forces.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday (Thursday) in Tripoli, there was an attack on an operations centre of top regime officials, including Seif al-Islam Kadhafi,\u201d National Transitional Council vice president Ali Essawy said after a meeting in Rome with Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne person was left seriously injured,\u201d he said, identifying the person as a high-ranking security official.<\/p>\n

Frattini said the \u201crocket attack against an operations centre\u201d probably in a Tripoli hotel was aimed at \u201ctop officials \u2026 including Kadhafi\u2019s son Seif, and the head of the secret service, Abdullah al-Senussi.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday, unconfirmed rumours swirled that rebels in Tripoli had tried to assassinate senior regime members that day.<\/p>\n

Since the revolution began in mid-February, a number of Tripoli-based groups have broadcast videos purporting to show acts of civil disobedience in the heavily controlled capital.<\/p>\n

Libyan officials denied the attack occurred and denounced as \u201ccriminal and unjustified\u201d what they said were NATO raids that killed six guards at a pipeline factory south of an oil plant in the eastern town of Brega.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no attack,\u201d government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters in reference to the rebels\u2019 claims they had launched a raid on a Tripoli command post.<\/p>\n

Rebel forces, he said, were losing their battles in the east of the country and to the southwest and trying \u201cto boost their morale with lies and small victories\u201d.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the rebels said 16 of their men were killed in two days of fighting for Zliten, the last coastal city between insurgent-held Misrata and the capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cSixteen of our fighters have fallen as martyrs and 126 more have been wounded in fighting with loyalist troops in Zliten,\u201d said a rebel statement, with clashes said to be particularly heavy in the suburb of Souk al-Thulatha.<\/p>\n

The insurgents have been trying for weeks to take Zliten, 200 kilometres (120 miles) from Tripoli and 40 kilometres west of Misrata.<\/p>\n

The rebels say they have chased the bulk of Kadhafi\u2019s forces from Brega in the east and are poised to advance towards the capital from Misrata and their other western enclave in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli.<\/p>\n

The Nafusa campaign is focused on taking Asabah, gateway to the garrison town of Gharyan on the highway into Tripoli.<\/p>\n

A rebel commander, Nasser al-Aaib, said Kadhafi troops \u201care not moving because they don\u2019t know the terrain; they are afraid of being ambushed by the rebels, who know every inch of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In speeches aired by state television this week, Kadhafi urged tribal leaders to march on Misrata while calling the rebels\u2019 uprising a \u201clost cause\u201d and ruling out any talks with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey cannot defeat us. They will be defeated and they will go home empty-handed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not talk to them. There will be no negotiations between me and them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, NATO has authorised a civilian air corridor between the rebel headquarters of Benghazi in the east and the Nafusa mountains, an official in the rebel-held southwest said.<\/p>\n

A road that cuts through fields is used as a runway, according to an AFP correspondent who toured the area but cannot identify the location for security reasons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Here is the original post:
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TRIPOLI,\u00a0 (AFP) \u2013 A wave of blasts rocked Tripoli on Saturday, including the area housing Moamer Kadhafi\u2019s complex, as his regime denied rebels attacked Libya\u2019s capital and wounded a top security official. 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