Libyan men attend the funeral of people said to have been killed in various NATO airstikes in Tripoli on May 12, 2011. – AFP Photo

TRIPOLI: A UN commission investigating war crimes and human rights violations in Libya reported on Friday that Nato airstrikes in the country last year killed 60 civilians and wounded 55 others.

“Amongst the 20 Nato airstrikes investigated, the commission documented five airstrikes where a total of 60 civilians were killed and 55 injured,” read the unedited version of the report obtained by AFP.

The commission also probed two Nato airstrikes which damaged civilian infrastructure and where no military target could be identified, it said.

Despite these findings, the commission concluded that Nato had “conducted a highly precise campaign with a demonstrable determination to avoid civilian casualties.”The International Commission of Inquiry on Libya also found that Moamer Kadhafi’s regime had distorted the number of civilian casualties resulting from the air campaign.

“A number of allegations against Nato investigated by the commission were either exaggerated or a deliberate attempt at misinformation,” the report said.

The commission received “a credible report” of Libyan forces moving the bodies of children from a hospital morgue and bringing them to the site of a Nato airstrike, it added.

Libyans buy sheep ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha in Tripoli. –Photo by Reuters

TRIPOLI: The Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Azha is just around the corner, but Ismail doubts he can afford a sheep, whose sacrifice and sharing with family, friends and the poor is central to the feast.

Prices in the Libyan capital have “skyrocketed, and I don’t have access to all the money in my bank account,” says the father of five.

“If I buy the sheep, I won’t have any money left for the rest of the month.”

Tripoli and the regime of strongman Muammar Qadhafi fell at the end of August, and life has begun returning to normal in the Mediterranean seaside capital.

But Ismail’s plight is common in an economy where cash is still short and where, after thousands of migrant workers fled during months of fighting, there is a serious labour shortage.

At the same time, many of the foreign investors who also fled the violence have yet to return.

As cranes lie idle at dozens of construction sites, thousands of Libyans are without work, while others, though employed, are unpaid.

Eid-ul-Azha, the feast which caps the annual Muslim pilgrimage or Hajj to Mecca, will be celebrated on Sunday. Now,

Tripolitans are forming lonq queues outside banks, hoping to withdraw a small portion of their deposits.

English teacher Amina el-Badri wasn’t paid for months, and when she finally got her salary for October, it wasn’t the full amount.

“Yes, we got paid for October, but it wasn’t everything. We got only part, only 750 dinars ($620), barely half the usual figure.”

On Al-Jumhuriya Avenue, not far from Qadhafi’s former complex and residence, the bullet-riddled windows of banks witness to the fierce fighting that led to the dictator’s downfall.

But one banker, trying to mollify a client, says “it’s not just a problem of money. There is no one to replace the windows. All the labour force has left.”

In August, the International Organisation for Migration estimated that 600,000 migrant workers, people who worked in markets, construction and other basic sectors, had fled the country.

The vice president of the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, recently said the cash shortage would be resolved once confidence was restored between banks and businesses.
He did not say how that would come about.

Despite all the problems, life is slowly returning to normal after months of Nato bombings and severe shortages of power, water and fuel.

Al-Shat Avenue, which runs along the seafront, is again suffering from its habitual traffic jams, sports cars mixing with NTC pick-ups.

Young people and families are recovering the simple pleasure of strolling through the residential and commercial district of Gargaresh, where shops and boutiques are reopening and music fills the air.

Tripoli’s largest shopping centre, Souk Al-Thulatha, has also reopened and displays are filling up little by little as imports return to the market.

But perhaps most importantly, fewer and fewer weapons are being seen on the streets, with the occasional deadly clashes between rival units of the former rebels now a rarity.

It was a 42 year long rule of Qadhafi that not only increased the literacy rate, but the economy and wellbeing of his country. Libya was a peaceful country and its economy one of the strongest in the continent of Africa. It was also one of the only voices of reason that supported the Statehood of Palestine.

The so called revolution of the people of Libya took 6 months compared to less than 20 days of Egypt or Tunisia which happened in a matter of days as well. Why? If Qadhafi was really such a despotic murderer, why did half the country support him? Why did it take months of aerial bombardment by the international police called Nato?

Because it was not a people’s revolution, it was the western fueled and funded Libyans by the West in an attempt to bring into a power a group that is friendly to their agenda. While whole cities and towns fought and gave their lives for Colonel Muammar Qadhafi, they were subject to international sanctions and a freeze on Libyan assets. It was not a revolution; it was a perfect example of “divide and rule” on the people of Libya – so swiftly executed that it has yet to strike Libyans, “what now?”

The Libyans not only took Qadhafi from themselves, they took their own stability and prosperity that was present to date. With inflation that was less than 1 per cent and a GDP growth rate the soared above 10 per cent in 2010, it is undeniable that the reforms and planning of the Libyan economy was better than many countries of the same size and regime.

-Source: Citizen Awareness Program

So, the West accomplished its goal, one by one, all oil producing countries are falling in its lap. Yet there is something worse that is going on. Humanity is dying, if it isn’t dead already. Perhaps, the media is to partly blame for showing such excitement and happiness upon the death of a human but we cannot always blame others, it is in the end no one else but ourselves that are responsible for actions, the media is only projecting the images back at us.

The ruthlessness of humanity can be discerned from the horrifying act of displaying the deceased’s body in a commercial freezer in Misrata, perhaps following the trends of making the dead fish food. Despite all the scars that the Colonel might have left on his country, it is immature to consider any human, let alone regimes, entirely evil or entirely good. It is deplorable to drag an old bleeding man who is pleading for his life, and it is illegal under international law to execute a prisoner without a fair trial.

Was Qadhafi really executed or was it an incident of cross-fire? Only a proper investigation can answer that. The United Nations, as well as Russia has raised concerns and called for such an examination of the events.

However, democracy seems to be too busy celebrating the death of a man that was pulled out of his hiding place, wounded so badly that he could barely walk. The revolution dragged Qadhafi and not only took his life, humiliated his dead body and is continuing to do so.

Yes, many never agreed with the policies and working of the Qadhafi regime, but the man, more so, humanity did not deserve such an ending. May the soul of Qadhafi rest in peace because the world is bound to make a spectacle of his life and his dead body for as long as it serves its purpose.

The author is a policy analyst and a social worker from Islamabad who believes that the glass is half full. He can be reached at siddique.humayun@gmail.com and www.weekend.pk

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters fire a rocket during a street battle in Sirte on October 7, 2011. – Photo by AFP

SIRTE: Forces loyal to Libya’s interim government pounded Moammer Qadhafi’s diehards in Sirte on Saturday as they resumed their battle for full control of the ousted despot’s birthplace.

A senior US defence official said, meanwhile, that Nato chiefs believe the fugitive former Libyan leader no longer commands his loyalists, who are on the verge of defeat.

A day after launching what they said is a final assault on Sirte, the forces loyal to the ruling National Transitional Council unleashed a barrage of rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft gunfire.

The fighting centred on Sirte’s Ouagadougou conference centre and nearby university, where holed-up Qadhafi loyalists have been responding with only sporadic mortar and small arms fire.

And after launching what they called a final assault on Sirte with a barrage of rocket and artillery fire, the NTC forces still faced stiff resistance late on Friday.

“We are surrounding them in the centre of the city in an area of just a few square kilometres (miles),” NTC commander Nasser Abu Zian told AFP.

An AFP correspondent said the NTC forces resumed the assault on Saturday after a sandstorm eased, boosting visibility in and around Sirte, once a symbol of Qadhafi’s regime.

Civilians trickled out on foot, including a woman who carried a child in her arms and a man lugging suitcases, as NTC forces stopped cars for identity checks and searches.

“We just want to go somewhere that is safe. I hadn’t been out of my house for three weeks because of all the firing. Lots of houses in my area were hit,” said Sudanese labourer Abdulrahim Kabash.

Milad Gahnatri, whom the NTC forces suspected was Mauritanian, appealed to be let through to seek medical treatment for two pale-looking men in the back of his car.

“These are my brothers. They need kidney dialysis three times a week but the Ibn Sina hospital is damaged by bombing. There are many patients in there and they are all afraid of the firing from all sides,” he said.

In eastern Sirte, NTC fighters overlooking the rectangular Ouagadougou centre said its concrete bunkers were proving tougher than they originally thought.

“It has been hit for days by tank guns and rockets, but it hasn’t budged.

Its paint has hardly been scratched,” said one of them with a Kalashnikov.

The number of NTC fighters at the front was lower than on Friday, when hundreds poured into Sirte at dawn on heavily armed pick-ups, following a ferocious artillery and rocket barrage.

In Friday’s offensive, the NTC fighters came under sustained mortar, machinegun and sniper fire but took a 700-home complex west of the centre, they said.

Plumes of black smoke billowed from several parts of the city as the Ouagadougou centre was constantly shelled by 106 mm cannon and anti-aircraft guns.

Nato warplanes flew overhead, and the alliance said in its latest operational update that the only target it struck across the country on Friday was a firing on a vehicle staging point in Sirte.

At least 12 NTC fighters were killed and 193 wounded, the military said, but there were no immediate casualty figures from the eastern side of the Mediterranean city, 360 kilometres (225 miles) east of Tripoli.

Late Friday, interim defence minister Jalal al-Digheily said the end of the conflict was near.

“We are very close to the end of the war and peace will be restored all over Libya,” he told reporters in Tripoli on the occasion of visits by his British and Italian counterparts, Liam Fox and Ignazio La Russa.

The decision came after the US and South Africa reached a deal which prevented the council from having to vote on a draft resolution that the US had submitted on the issue on Thursday following South Africas reluctance to release funds. – File Photo by AP

UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council allowed on Friday release of $1.5 billion in frozen Libyan assets, held by the US, to assist in delivering humanitarian aid and other basic services to people in the war-torn country.

The decision came after the US and South Africa reached a deal which prevented the council from having to vote on a draft resolution that the US had submitted on the issue on Thursday following South Africas reluctance to release funds.

South Africa had expressed objections over two of the three $500 million portions of the funds going to the TNC, when it said they had not yet recognised the TNC as the sole, legal representative of the Libyan people.

After negotiations appeared to stall, the United States moved the request out of the consensus-required sanctions committee to the Security Council, where it could override South Africas objections with nine votes in favour of a resolution on release of the funds, and no vetoes.

But in the end, a resolution was not required when the United States agreed to modify the language in its request in exchange for South Africas agreement.

Now, instead of asking that the funds be designated for the Transitional National Council, they will be for the “relevant authorities” in Libya.

US officials said the money should be in the TNC’s hands in a matter of days.

South African Ambassador Baso Sangqu said his country did not want to imply recognition of the TNC prematurely. He told reporters that Pretoria wanted to consult with the African Union, which was meeting in the Ethiopian capital. “My delegation had opportunity to consult at the AU in Addis Ababa and then the green light came that we should go ahead.”

Judges Sanji Mmasenono Monageng (C), Sylvia Steiner (L) and Cuno Tarfusser (R) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) attend a meeting about Libya in The Hague on June 27, 2011. – Photo by AFP

THE HAGUE: International judges ordered the arrest of Moammar Qadhafi on Monday for murdering Libyan civilians who rose up against him, as Nato warplanes pounded his Tripoli compound and world leaders stepped up calls for the Libyan leader to resign.

The International Criminal Court said Qadhafi, his son Seif al-Islam Qadhafi and his intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanoussi are wanted for orchestrating the killing, injuring, arrest and imprisonment of hundreds of civilians during the first 12 days of an uprising to topple Qadhafi from power, and for trying to cover up their alleged crimes.

The warrants from The Hague court turn the three men into internationally wanted suspects, potentially complicating efforts to mediate an end to more than four months of intense fighting in the North African nation. The warrants will be sent to Libya, where Qadhafi remains defiantly entrenched.

Presiding judge Sanji Monageng of Botswana called Qadhafi the ”undisputed leader of Libya” who had ”absolute, ultimate and unquestioned control” over his country’s military and security forces. She said prosecutors presented evidence showing that following popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, Qadhafi and his inner circle plotted a ”state policy … aimed at deterring and quelling by any means _ including by the use of lethal force _ demonstrations by civilians against the regime.”

Hundreds of civilians were killed, injured or arrested, she said, adding there were ”reasonable grounds to believe” that Qadhafi and his son were both responsible for the murder and persecution of civilians.

Prosecutors said the three suspects should be arrested quickly ”to prevent them covering up ongoing crimes and committing new crimes.”

Qadhafi’s regime rejected the court’s authority even before the decision was read, accusing the court of unfairly targeting Africans while ignoring what it called crimes committed by Nato in Afghanistan, Iraq ”and in Libya now.”

”The ICC has no legitimacy whatsoever … all of its activities are directed at African leaders,” Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told reporters Sunday.

Rebels welcomed the court’s action, but appeared divided about where Qadhafi should ultimately stand trial.

Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, head of the Benghazi Interim Council, said rebels would ”welcome all assistance from the friendly countries” to help arrest the Libyan leader, and said: ”We will hand Qadhafi to (the) ICC.”

Mohammed al-Alaqi, justice minister in the Libyan rebel administration, picked up a copy of the warrant from the court, but suggested Qadhafi could be prosecuted in Libya ”under the standards of this court.”

He also hoped the warrants would persuade Qadhafi’s forces to defect.

”Maybe this decision will make the military brigades change their minds, because Qadhafi and his son have no future at all,” he said.

In Brussels, Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the court’s decision highlighted the increasing isolation of the Qadhafi’s regime.

”It reinforces the reason for Nato’s mission, to protect the Libyan people from Qadhafi’s forces,” he said Monday, adding that the Libyan leader and his supporters need to realize that ”time is rapidly running out for them.”

Nato air forces have been conducting daily air strikes against military targets in Libya for the past 100 days _ a bombing campaign that has drawn increasing international criticism.

In Tripoli, two loud explosions shook the area near Qadhafi’s compound Monday, setting off a chorus of emergency sirens in the Libyan capital. Libyan officials said Nato fired two missiles targeting Qadhafi’s personal bus, about 100 yards (meters) from the human shields the Libyan government keeps inside Qadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound.

Journalists were taken to see a heavily damaged, burnt-out bus inside the compound two hours after the strike. It didn’t appear to have been struck recently, however, since it was cool to the touch. No one was reported killed in the strike, though officials said two people were slightly injured.

A coalition including France, Britain and the United States began striking Qadhafi’s forces under a United Nations resolution to protect civilians on March 19. Nato assumed control of the air campaign over Libya on March 31 and is joined by a number of Arab allies.

European nations praised the warrants.

”Qadhafi is now a fugitive from international justice,” British Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons. ”The pressure and the time is telling on Qadhafi, and we will not let up until the job is done.”

In Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said ”after 41 years of dictatorship, it is perhaps time to stop, for him to leave power.”

The Foreign Ministry of Italy, Libya’s former colonial ruler, said the warrants confirmed that Qadhafi had ”lost all legitimacy, political and moral.”

”As such, he can have no role to play in Libya’s future,” it said.

Libyan rebels round-up soldiers loyal to Col. Moamer Kadhafi following their capture in Libya's western mountain region of Qalaa on June 7, 2011. - AFP Photo

BENGHAZI: Tribal fighters opposed to Moamer Qadhafi have clashed with the strongman’s forces in the oasis city of Sabha, rebels said, as regime troops went on the offensive at key Libyan flashpoints.

The fresh wave of fighting comes as Turkey said it has offered Qadhafi guarantees to leave Libya and Russian envoy Mikhail Margelov said he would soon visit Tripoli to try to find a solution to the conflict.

Fighters of the Awlad Suleiman tribe, a rival to the Qadhafis, “liberated several streets” in Sabha, 800 kilometres south of Tripoli and a bastion of support for Qadhafi, the rebel National Transitional Council said on Saturday.

Qadhafi’s forces opened fire, killing one man, the NTC said in a statement.

Sabha, with a population of some 100,000 people and home to an important military base, had until now been untouched by the unrest which has swept much of the north African oil-rich nation since a popular uprising against Qadhafi’s four-decade authoritarian rule erupted mid-February.

Fighting in the important agricultural city famed for its Fort Elena castle followed two days of anti-Qadhafi protests there, the statement said, issued in the rebels’ eastern capital Benghazi.

“Major protests began on Friday in the Mansheya district (of Sabha) … with young people acclaiming the revolution of February 17, raising the flag of independence and demanding Qadhafi’s departure,” the statement said.

“Qadhafi loyalists, some in plain clothes, opened fire with live ammunition and two protesters were hit. They were taken to hospital where they were detained by Qadhafi’s men,” it added.

The rebels said pro-Qadhafi forces were on Saturday shelling the western city of Ghadames some 600 kilometres southwest of Tripoli, close to the borders with Tunisia and Algeria.

Known as the “pearl of the desert,” the oasis boasts a UNESCO World Heritage site and is famous for its Roman-era ruins.

“The people of Ghadames appeal to UNESCO and international organisations to protect the ancient city,” the rebels said in statement.

They also reported clashes on Friday and Saturday at Kekla and Bir al-Ghanem in the mountainous Jebel Nafussa region west of Tripoli where there has been weeks of fighting.

Pro-Qadhafi forces had tried to enter the town of Yafran in the same area, and that there had been “fierce clashes.” The rebels, who control vast swaths of eastern Libya as well as the city of Misrata and a sprinkling of towns in the west, also reported fighting at Dafnia near Misrata on Saturday.

A rebel said that on Friday, 20 people were killed as Qadhafi’s forces had bombarded the Dafnia area with Grad rockets, heavy artillery and tank shells.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government had offered exit “guarantees” to the embattled Libyan leader, whom rebels have been trying to oust since February following a bloody crackdown on pro-reform protests.

Qadhafi “has no other option than to leave Libya – with a guarantee to be given to him,” Erdogan said on NTV television.

“We have given him this guarantee. We have told him we will help him to be sent wherever he wants to go,” he added, without elaborating. “We have received no reply so far.” Tripoli has this week seen the most intense Nato air raids since the international military campaign began on March 19 under a UN mandate to protect Libyan civilians.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned however that the air war on the strongman’s forces could be in peril because of military shortcomings.

Gates, the Pentagon chief, expressed concern on Friday with half of the countries in the 28-member Nato alliance not participating in the campaign, saying many simply did not have the wherewithal.

On Saturday, two blasts shook Tripoli in the afternoon, witnesses said, in apparent air strikes targeting the Salaheddin and Ain Zara districts. Residents said several waves of blasts also rocked the city on Friday.

In a military update on Friday’s strikes, the British defence ministry said its fighters had destroyed four tanks “hidden in an orchard” near the town of Al-Aziziyah, southwest of Tripoli.

Tornado and Typhoon jets also bombed a military base at Al-Mayah on the western outskirts of the capital, it said.

Nato said a tank and a rocket launcher were also targeted on Friday near Misrata.

In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s special envoy Mikhail Margelov said he would visit Tripoli to try to find a solution to the conflict, having met the opposition in their Benghazi stronghold.

Almost 900,000 people have fled Libya since the outbreak of the conflict, which has cost thousands of lives, according to UN agencies.

File photo taken on March 9, 2011 shows Bengladeshi refugees, who fled Libya, waiting at the Choucha camp in Tunisia near the border with Libya for their names to be called to get documents to be repatriated to their homeland. The United Nations refugee agency says on June 3, 2011 that some 150 bodies have been recovered from the wreck of a ship that capsized on June 1 off Tunisia carrying migrants fleeing the conflict in Libya. UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards says “we know that many women and children are among the 150. – Photo by AFP

GENEVA: Many women and children are among 150 people that drowned after a ship carrying some 850 migrants fleeing the conflict in Libya capsized off Tunisia’s coast, the United Nations refugee agency said Friday.

The tragedy appears to be one of the worst and the deadliest incidents in the Mediterranean so far this year, said Adrian Edwards, the spokesman for the UNHCR.

The Geneva-based agency said at least 578 of the estimated 850 people on board, mostly from West Africa, Pakistan and Bangladesh, survived the Wednesday sinking.

The boat, manned by people with little or no maritime experience, set sail on Saturday afternoon from the Libyan capital Tripoli and was headed for Lampedusa in Italy, Edwards said.

”It ran into difficulties soon after departure and experienced problems with its steering and power,” he said. ”Effectively lost at sea, by the third day of the journey the passengers ran out of food and water.”

The boat ultimately ran aground on Wednesday on a sandbank near the Kerkennah islands, some 300 kilometers northwest of Tripoli. It capsized as desperate passengers rushed to one side, seeking rescue by the Tunisian coast guard and fishing boats that had approached the vessel.

Many fell into the water and women and children are among the missing, survivors told the refugee agency.

UNHCR, however, revised its earlier statement which said that 150 bodies had been recovered from the sea.

Col. Jalloul Jaballah, who heads the emergency response unit in the region near the shipwreck, says that only one body has been pulled out of the water and another person died while being transferred, as bad weather has prevented any recovery attempt.

Edwards said Friday that survivors are being taken to refugee camps where they will receive counseling and assistance. – AP

Libyan rebel fighters secure the premises of a mass Friday prayer at Revolution square in the rebel stronghold of the Libyan eastern city Benghazi on May 27, 2011. - AFP Photo

GENEVA: Fighting in Misrata killed an estimated 12 people a day and wounded about 70 in the Libyan city’s six operating hospitals, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

The number killed or injured has decreased significantly over the past week as fighting has eased, the WHO said, but said the health situation remained critical.

A reporter in Misrata said rebels and forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi were engaged in heavy fighting on the city’s western outskirts on Friday.

Nato on Friday accused forces loyal to Libyan leader Moamer Qadhafi of laying landmines around the rebel-held city of Misrata to prevent the population from moving.

The mining of Misrata’s surrounding area is part of the regime’s efforts to take back the key western port after rebels routed them from the city earlier this month, said the commander of the Nato mission in Libya, Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard.

“This morning’s report showed us that a minefield was laid in the Misrata area,” Bouchard told a news conference via video link from his headquarters in Naples, Italy.

“Anti-personnel landmines, in contravention to international law, had been laid in the Misrata area to prevent the population from moving,” he said.

Misrata is the biggest rebel stronghold in the west of the country and has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in Libya’s three-month-old conflict.

Meanwhile, Moscow’s special representative on Africa Mikhail Margelov said on Friday that Russia has contacts in Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi’s entourage with whom it can negotiate his departure.

“We shouldn’t talk to Qadhafi himself but with members of his cabinet, possibly with his sons. And we are making such contacts, so there is a hope for a political resolution,”

Margelov told reporters at the G8 summit in northern France.

Asked to specify who Russia’s main partner would be in such talks, he said: “Can you imagine, if I give you this person’s name and his head were to be cut off the next day?

“But yes, we do have people in Qadhafi’s camp.”

Russia says its G8 partners have suggested it take a mediation role in the Libyan crisis, although that has not been confirmed by other officials at the Deauville meeting. Russia has criticised the Western powers bombing campaign but has agreed with its G8 partners that Qadhafi should step aside.

A Libyan rebel fighter stands guard at Benghazi’s Revolution Square on May 24, 2011, the day Jordan said it recognises the National Transitional Council as the ‘legitimate representative’ of the Libyan people and intends to appoint an envoy the rebels’ capital. - AFP Photo

TRIPOLI: Moamer Qadhafi’s regime is on the run, a Nato official said, as alliance jets blasted Libya’s capital and Russia on Wednesday slammed the blitz of Tripoli as a “grave departure” from UN resolutions.

The senior Nato military official said the Western alliance is shifting into high gear in Libya in a bid to deliver a decisive blow to Qadhafi’s government, hitting Tripoli with its heaviest bombardment to date.

Six powerful explosions struck late Tuesday near Qadhafi’s residence, targeted a day earlier by intensive Nato air strikes, an AFP journalist said.

Jet fighters could be heard above before three deafening explosions rocked the area of the embattled leader’s Bab Al-Aziziya residential compound around 11:00 pm, followed by three others two minutes later.

The zone came under heavy bombardment overnight Monday lasting more than half an hour, leaving three dead and 150 wounded, according to the Qadhafi regime.

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim insisted those strikes targeted a deserted military barracks but instead hit civilians living nearby.

Nato rejected the charge, saying that a strategic vehicle storage facility – used to resupply the regime forces and instrumental in attacks against civilians – had been struck.

The Nato official said in Brussels the allies hoped Qadhafi would fall by late June or early July.

“The regime has become very apathetic in the last 15 days. It has lost the military initiative and appears on the defensive, which is a sign that we are on the right path,” he said.

“We think that we must speed up and increase the tempo of our operations to let the fruit drop on its own.” After three months of fighting, however, the regime remains entrenched in much of the west, including the capital Tripoli.

Worried about getting bogged down in an endless stalemate, Nato allies, who were divided over going into Libya in the first place and face budgetary constraints, have no choice but to increase the pressure, the official said.

The alliance must “speed up the systematic destruction of Tripoli’s military machine with the goal of neutralising Qadhafi’s forces for good,” he said.

Nato began to turn up the heat last month with almost daily strikes in and around Tripoli, including an evening air raid on April 30 that the regime says killed one of Qadhafi’s sons and three grandchildren. Nato has not confirmed the deaths.

Russia’s foreign ministry Wednesday called Nato’s latest bombings of Tripoli a “grave departure” from UN resolutions on Libya that could lead to a further escalation in violence.

“We clearly see another grave violation on UN Security Council Resolutions 1970 and 1973,” the ministry said in a statement.

Russia said the West’s attempts to justify the offensive by pointing to the threats being posed to civilians by Qadhafi’s regime ignored the danger of the Tripoli government becoming even more entrenched in its stance.

“Air strikes are not stopping the military confrontation between the Libyan parties and only creating more suffering among peaceful civilians,” the statement said.

The Russian statement added that Nato’s current strategy was “in no way moving us closer toward achieving the overall goal of quickly ending the armed conflict.” Nato forces launched their heaviest blitz of the campaign overnight that centres on the embattled leader’s Bab Al-Aziziya residential compound.

Meanwhile, fighting at a refugee camp near the Tunisia-Libya border left two people dead, while a blaze injured seven others, a source close to the defence ministry said.

Two Eritreans were killed when stones were thrown during a clash with other refugees at the Choucha camp seven kilometres from the border, the source told AFP.

Another seven, whose nationality is not known, were injured in a fire started by the Eritreans which destroyed 200 tents.

Thousands of people have fled to the camp since violence broke out in neighbouring Libya in February.