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Libyans claim Nato directly targeting Gaddafi in violation of UN resolution after office building and reception area damaged
Nato appeared to be targeting Muammar Gaddafi and his inner circle after two air strikes in three days hit sites in or near the Tripoli compound from where the Libyan leader is believed to direct government strategy in the civil war.
At least two large missiles or bombs struck a multi-storey office building in Bab al-Aziziya, the sprawling complex in the centre of Tripoli, shortly after midnight on Monday. Another building, a ceremonial reception area where Gaddafi hosted a delegation from the African Union two weeks ago, was badly damaged. A Libyan government spokesman claimed three people were killed in the attack.
The office building housed a library regularly frequented by Gaddafi, according to officials. Its roof caved under the impact of the strike, the ground over a wide area was covered in shattered masonry, broken glass and metal, and pools of water formed between piles of rubble. Three hours after the blast, thick dust was still in the air when foreign journalists were taken to the site.
The Libyan leader's location was not known, but a senior Libyan government official told the Guardian: "It was very close." Nato was directly targeting Gaddafi, he claimed. "It's getting worse and worse."
The strike came as it emerged that the British defence secretary, Liam Fox, is heading to the US for talks on the military campaign with his counterpart Robert Gates. The discussions are expected to focus on the best way of stepping up Nato attacks on Gaddafi's forces, after the US decided to bring its unmanned Predator drones into play.
Figures close to the regime claim that Nato is attempting to assassinate Gaddafi. The Libyan leader has rarely been seen in public since the crisis began around 10 weeks ago. Government officials say Nato is acting in violation of the terms of the UN security council resolution that authorised air strikes to protect Libyan civilians.
Hours before the strikes, the US senator Lindsey Graham called for Nato to "cut the head of the snake off". Gaddafi "needs to wake up every day wondering 'will this be my last?'," the Republican member of the Senate armed service committee told CNN.
Nato headquarters in Brussels confirmed the attack on the Gaddafi compound, describing the buildings as a legitimate target under the terms of the UN mandate empowering it to hit regime facilities deemed to be threatening the safety of Libyan civilians.
"We can confirm that the alliance carried out a precision air strike in central Tripoli last night," said a Nato official. The target was "a communications headquarters used to co-ordinate attacks against the civilian population ... We have no evidence of any civilian casualties."
The official said the attack was part of a strategy of "varying" the targets selected for striking in Libya as part of the campaign to "degrade the regime forces".
Moussa Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said: "We regard it as an attempt to assassinate the leader and unifying figure of this country. It was not a civilised act. It was an act of terrorism, an act worthy of mafia gangs not governments."
He refused to comment on Gaddafi's wherabouts, other than to say he was working from Tripoli and leading the battle for peace and democracy in Libya.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan leader's son, said the air strikes on Gaddafi's seat of power would make Libya stronger. "It's impossible that it will make us afraid or give up or raise the white flag," the Jana state news agency quoted him as saying. "In history, no country has achieved victory with spies and traitors and collaborators ... Nato, you are the losers."
At Gaddafi's compound, supporters who gather nightly to act as human shields against the air strikes climbed on the shattered building shortly after the blasts, as chunks of masonry fell. They waved loyalist green flags and chanted pro-Gaddafi and anti-Nato slogans.
Inside the second building, furniture, picture frames and chandeliers lay amid rubble and covered with dust. Jacob Zuma of South Africa and two other African presidents had held talks here with Gaddafi earlier this month on a peace proposal.
It was the second time Nato had struck inside the compound since its military campaign started. A missile hit another building in the early days of the strikes, causing extensive damage.
In the early hours of Saturday, two missiles hit a site a few hundred metres from Bab al-Aziziya. Nato appeared to have targeted an underground bunker, which was visible from the craters caused by the missiles.
A compound housing Libyan state television was hit in a separate strike near Tripoli's old city in the early hours of Monday, according to an official. Broadcasts went off air for up to 30 minutes as a result, he said.
Monday's strike on Gaddafi's compound followed two days of heavy assault on the besieged city of Misrata by government forces. Despite the Libyan government's claims that troops had pulled back from the city, forces on the ground stepped up shelling and rocket fire after gains made on the ground by rebels.
Two schools were reported to have been destroyed by shelling on Monday. "Now Gaddafi's troops are on the outskirts of Misrata, using rocket launchers," a resident named Abdel Salam told the Associated Press.