EQUIPO NIZKOR |
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21Jun11
NATO kills innocent again
Libya has accused NATO forces of an airstrike that is said to have killed 9 civilians, including 4 children and injured 18 others over the weekend. The early Sunday morning attack destroyed one apartment building, crashing residents beneath tones of debris while they were sleeping, Libyan authorities said. Have a dozen homes on a normally quiet street were also damaged. The rescue operation began immediately, but people on the ground expressed fear that there was little hope of anyone being found alive under the rubble. A Libyan rescue worker recounted his experience: “Under the rubble we were able to find four children and two adults – a man and a woman.”
Family members of those that were killed mourned at the site for hours. Mohammed al-Hurari lost 5 members of his family and barely survived himself.
“I woke up when I heard an explosion. Some stones and pieces of the roof fell on me. I ran immediately to see how my family was and many were dead. My mother survived, another brother is in a coma, and we don’t know when or if he will recover.”
Libyan government allowed international journalists to the bomb site as victims were still being pulled from the rubble. Typically, journalist movements are limited. Late Sunday Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi sent message to the members of UN Security Council, holding them responsible for what he called ‘a methodical extermination process’. Government Spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim spoke to reporters near the site of the incident:
“They were attacked by rockets from the sky. People were killed, children. With my own hands, with my own eyes I saw and helped take out little girls who were killed and little boys, the father and the mother. Two whole families perished under this attack. You cannot justify this attack with anything. This is not protection of civilians. ”
Later, at a hospital, he denounced the strike in NATO’s presence in Libya.
“Basically, this is another night of murder, and terror, and horror in Tripoli, caused by NATO. You have seen with your own eyes the terrible disaster that is taking place every day in Tripoli.”
NATO later admitted that their forces are likely to blame the same mistake. This was their official announcement: “The intended target during last night air strike in Tripoli was a military missile site. However, from our initial assessment of the facts, it appears that one weapon did not strike the intended target due to a weapons system failure.”
Canadian air force Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, commander of the Libyan campaign, apologized for the organization. “NATO regrets the loss of innocent civilian lives and takes great care in conducting strikes against a regime determined to use violence against its own citizens.” He added, “Investigators are still determining specifics of the event.”
[Source: The Voice of Russia, Moscow, 21Jun11]
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