Libyans gather for funerals of alleged victims of airstrike
By the CNN Wire Staff
March 24, 2011 -- Updated 1759 GMT (0159 HKT)
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Libyan govt. media trip goes wrong
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: French jets fired on a Libyan aircraft for violating the no-fly zone
Gadhafi's government claims airstrikes killed civilians
His tanks shell the cities of Misrata and Ajdabiya
Residents in battle zones are in a dire situation, aid agencies say
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- After a fifth consecutive night of pounding by
coalition jets, Libyans gathered at a seaside cemetery in Tripoli Thursday for
the funerals of 33 people Moammar Gadhafi's government said were victims of an
airstrike.
State television broadcast the funerals live, calling the dead victims of the
"crusader colonial aggression." Earlier, a Libyan government official said
coalition planes struck the suburb of Tajura and state TV showed images of
fires, smoldering vehicles and the charred bodies of the dead.
CNN could not independently verify the circumstances of the deaths or who the
victims were. Regardless, anger trumped grief at the cemetery and Gadhafi's
message was loud and clear: innocent people were wrongly killed and the Libyan
people will fight back.
Coalition leaders have reported no civilian casualties so far and said that
Western jets have dropped precision bombs on military targets.
"It is not likely that civilians were a part of any airstrike today," said
Joint Task Force Operation Odyssey Dawn Lt. Cmdr. Jim Hoeft.
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But so far, the aerial war has been unable to stop Gadhafi's armor and the
battle for two cities -- Misrata in the west and Ajdabiya in the east -- raged
on Thursday.
A Misrata resident told CNN that he heard an explosion and that snipers loyal
to Gadhafi were shooting from rooftops in the besieged city.
Earlier, Gadhafi's tanks attacked Misrata's main hospital filled with 400
people, half of whom were patients, a witness said. At one point, the shelling
went on for 40 long minutes -- without respite.
"Now, fortunately, no more shelling, but the situation is so serious that all
the teams here -- the doctors, the patients -- are paralyzed, scared," the
witness said, imploring the international community to intervene in the name of
civilians under attack.
The situation, he said, was too dangerous for ambulances to leave the hospital.
The hospital had no electricity and was relying on a generator.
Witnesses in Misrata are not being identified by CNN because of security
reasons. Journalists have no access to the city and cannot independently
confirm reports of violence.
The battle for Misrata, Libya's third largest city, has been ongoing for more
than a week.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday that many residents
remain trapped in their homes without electricity and communications and a
dwindling supply of food and water.
In the east, Gadhafi's tanks were shelling Ajdabiya, where fierce fighting had
occurred the day before. Loyalist forces still controlled the northern and
western gates to the city.
"This underlines the appalling danger its inhabitants would be in without
coalition action, as do continued threats by Gadhafi forces to 'massacre'
residents in areas under bombardment," Hague said.
An opposition member told CNN that an isolated Gadhafi unit had raised a white
flag but when the rebels approached, the unit began firing.
The coalition has been able to establish a no-fly zone that spans from east to
west along Libya's coastline. French jets fired air-to-ground missiles on a
Libyan combat aircraft Thursday that was in violation of the no-fly mandate,
destroying it, the French Defense Ministry said. The plane was struck as it was
landing in a Misrata airfield.
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RELATED TOPICS
Libya
Moammar Gadhafi
Though the rebels may be in a better position now, a U.S. official said
Gadhafi's forces still have the upper hand.
They remain capable of carrying out attacks on the opposition, are relatively
well-organized and continue to fight effectively, the official said.
Aid agencies, restricted from accessing most parts of the country, expressed
grave concern for Libyans living in battle zones.
"It's unclear how civilians are faring in the areas affected by hostilities,"
said Simon Brooks, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission
in Libya.
"And that's a source of great concern to us," he said. "We're getting alarming
reports from cities like Ajdabiya and Misrata, where the conflict has been
raging for weeks now."
Brooks said doctors in both cities were working under extremely difficult
conditions and "struggling to keep patients alive."
On the sixth day of the coalition's intervention in Libya, myriad questions
hounded allied leaders, chief among them: who will eventually take command of
the mission?
"These coalition operations are currently under U.S. command," Hague said. "But
we want them to transition to NATO command and control as quickly as possible."
NATO already has ships in the Mediterranean Sea to enforce an arms embargo but
is still debating who should take charge of the Libyan campaign.
"We need agreement to unified command and control for it to be robust, and we
expect to get that soon," Hague said.
A key NATO ally, Turkey, voted Thursday to participate in the alliance's naval
operations but only in support of the arms embargo against Libya. It will not
conduct military strikes.
Critics are also calling for a clearer explanation of U.S. policy in the North
African nation.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who just wrapped up a five-day trip to Latin
America, has insisted that the goal of the U.N.-sanctioned military mission is
strictly to prevent a humanitarian crisis.
Specifically, the U.N. mandate calls for protecting Libyan rebels and other
civilians from attacks by forces loyal to the strongman.
U.S. officials have indicated they hope Gadhafi will be removed quickly by
forces currently loyal to him, though they haven't publicly called for a coup
The international airstrikes against Libyan military positions began over the
weekend after Gadhafi defied a United Nations-mandated cease-fire to stop
attacks against civilians.
The war was sparked in February by protests demanding an end to Gadhafi's
nearly 42-year rule. The Libyan strongman responded with force against
civilians, prompting the international community to take action.
France launched the air campaign, and Britain and the United States followed.
Britain has announced an international meeting for next Tuesday to assess the
situation in Libya.
CNN's Nic Robertson, Arwa Damon and Jim Bittermann contributed to this report.
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