20110514
reuters

Tears, chants and volleys of gunfire fired into the air punctuated the funeral for nine imams Libya said NATO killed in an air strike, but the alliance said the building it struck was a command-and-control centre.

NATO is bombing Libya as part of a U.N. mandate to protect civilians. Some NATO members say they will continue until Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who taunted the alliance as cowards whose bombs could not kill him, is forced out.

The nine imams were among 11 people killed in a strike on a guest house in the eastern city of Brega on Friday, the government said. The other two were buried elsewhere.

"May God defeat their (NATO) forces on land, sea and air," shouted a crowd of about 500 at the funeral held at a cemetery near Tripoli's port.

Mourners hoisted the plain wooden coffins above their heads to carry them into the cemetery and they were open to show what looked like bodies wrapped in green shrouds and garlanded with flowers, a Reuters witness said.

"It (NATO's campaign) is one insult after another to the living and the dead," said onlooker Abdulrahman.

In a statement, NATO defended its action: "We are aware of allegations of civilian casualties in connection to this strike and although we cannot independently confirm the validity of the claim, we regret any loss of life by innocent civilians when they occur."

Libyan state television broadcast audio remarks by Gaddafi on Friday apparently aimed at quashing speculation about his health sparked by Italy's foreign minister who said he had likely been wounded in a NATO strike and left Tripoli.