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    June 21, 2011

Libya Says Civilians Killed in NATO Confirmed Airstrike

   VOA News
   A Libyan man walking amid the debris of a damaged building on the
   sprawling estate of Khuwildi Hemidi, a veteran comrade of Moammar
   Gadhafi in the Surman area, west of Tripoli, June 20, 2011A Libyan man
   walking amid the debris of a damaged building on th
   Photo: AFP
   A Libyan man walking amid the debris of a damaged building on the
   sprawling estate of Khuwildi Hemidi, a veteran comrade of Moammar
   Gadhafi in the Surman area, west of Tripoli, June 20, 2011

   NATO said Monday it carried out an airstrike on a "high-level" command
   center in Libya, while the government said the strike destroyed a large
   family compound belonging to a close associate of leader Moammar
   Gadhafi.
   The alliance had at first denied the strike, saying it had not
   conducted any recent operations in the area of Surman, about 65
   kilometers west of the capital, Tripoli.
   The Libyan government said NATO bombs struck Khoweidi al-Hamidi's
   compound, killing 15 people, including at least two of his
   grandchildren and his wife.
   It said al-Hamidi - a member of Libya's Revolutionary Command Council,
   led by Gadhafi - escaped unharmed. The influential insider took part in
   the 1969 coup that brought the Libyan leader to power. His daughter is
   married to one of Gadhafi's sons, Saadi Gadhafi.
   NATO said it could not confirm the deaths. The latest Libyan accusation
   comes a day after NATO acknowledged that an airstrike by its forces may
   have killed civilians in the Libyan capital.
   Meanwhile, Chinese state media say Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, head of the
   rebel Transitional National Council, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for
   a two-day visit.
   China held talks earlier this month with an envoy from Gadhafi, and
   Chinese diplomats have met with anti-Gadhafi rebels in Benghazi
   Also Monday, more than 20 troops loyal to Gadhafi defected from a
   brigade based in southern Libya and joined the anti-government
   opposition. Four of the men spoke to reporters in the eastern rebel
   stronghold of Benghazi, saying they had escaped from a pro-Gadhafi unit
   based near Libya's border with Chad.

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