20110607
Reuters
YAFRAN/TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Loud explosions shook Tripoli on Tuesday in what appeared to be stepped up NATO air strikes on the Libyan capital, a day after rebels seized a town in the west, driving out Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

Several huge explosions shook the area around Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound in central Tripoli, sending columns of grey smoke into the sky.

The blasts, shortly before noon, appeared to be a rare daytime attack by NATO on the compound. It has been struck several times in recent weeks, usually at night.

The smoke could be seen from a hotel near the compound where Reuters and other foreign journalists are based.

The Libyan capital and vicinity has come under increased attack by NATO bombers in recent days, with strikes hitting the city and its outskirts every few hours.

Libyan TV said al-Karama neighbourhood was hit by NATO forces, which have been bombing targets of Gaddafi's government since March. It later said a telecommunications station was hit.

"The crusading colonial aggressor this evening hit and destroyed a communications centre west of Tripoli, severing land communications in some areas. The station is civilian," it said late on Monday.

NATO said it had struck a military "command and control target" in a strike on Monday.

"As long as Gaddafi continues to threaten civilians, NATO will maintain the pressure upon his regime and will continue to degrade his ability to attack the population of Libya," said Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, commander of the NATO mission.

Rebels control the east of Libya, the western city of Misrata and the range of mountains near the border with Tunisia. But they have been unable to advance on the capital against Gaddafi's better-equipped forces, despite NATO air strikes.

Rebels seized Yafran, 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Tripoli, on Monday, in a sign NATO strikes may be helping them advance after weeks of deadlock.

British warplanes destroyed two tanks and two armoured personnel carriers on June 2.

Yafran is spread over a hill, the bottom part of which had been controlled by pro-Gaddafi forces for more than a month and used to besiege the rebel-controlled part.

Food, drinking water and medicines were running short.

Asked about reports of rebel gains in the Western Mountains area, Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Khaled Kaim told reporters government forces could retake rebel territory in hours, but were holding back from doing so to avoid civilian casualties.

NATO attack helicopters were in action in the east on Sunday. Apaches destroyed a rocket launcher system on the coast near the eastern town of Brega, Britain's Defence Ministry said.

A French military source said French planes and helicopters had been in Libya every night since Friday, but gave no details.

Gaddafi's forces also fired rockets into the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah in the east on Monday and clashes broke out on the main road further west, rebel sources said.

STALEMATE

Gaddafi's troops and the rebels have been in stalemate for weeks, with neither able to hold territory on a road between Ajdabiyah and the Gaddafi-held oil town of Brega further west.

The new deployment of helicopters is part of a plan to step up military operations to break the deadlock. Critics say NATO has gone far beyond its U.N. mandate to protect civilians.

In a report on Monday, the International Crisis Group (ICG) urged the rebels and their NATO allies to propose a ceasefire.

"The (rebels) and their NATO supporters appear uninterested in resolving the conflict through negotiation," it said.

"To insist, as they have done, on Gaddafi's departure as a precondition ... is to prolong the military conflict and deepen the crisis. Instead, the priority should be to secure an immediate ceasefire and negotiations on a transition."

Western governments and rebels say a combination of NATO air strikes, diplomatic isolation and grassroots opposition will eventually bring an end to Gaddafi's rule.

Gaddafi has said he has no intention of stepping down, saying he is supported by all Libyans apart from a minority of "rats" and al Qaeda militants, and says the NATO intervention is designed to steal Libya's oil.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen sidestepped questions on whether more helicopters were needed, but said he would repeat calls for NATO allies to step up involvement during a NATO defence ministers meeting this week.

NATO last week decided to extend operations in Libya for another 90 days, or until the end of September.

Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez will travel to the Libyan city of Benghazi to meet rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil on Wednesday, her ministry said on Monday.

In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said an Egypt-based Chinese diplomat had visited Benghazi for talks with the rebel-led National Transitional Council, adding to signs that China is courting the insurgents.

The diplomat went to the city to "understand the local humanitarian situation and the state of Chinese-funded firms," the Foreign Ministry said on its website (www.mfa.gov.cn).