Western strike hits Gaddafi compound, Tripoli says

Western forces' second wave of air strikes on Libya destroyed a building in Gaddafi's compound, which is not clear if it was a warning, a purposeful attempt or a casualty of enforcing the no-fly zone

"It was a barbaric bombing," said government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim, showing pieces of shrapnel that he said came from the missile. "This contradicts American and Western [statements] ... that it is not their target to attack this place."
There was no comment on the strike from attacking forces. The first air strikes on Saturday halted the advance of Gaddafi's forces on the rebel-held eastern city of Benghazi and had targeted Libya's air defences in order to let Western warplanes patrol the skies of this oil-producing north African desert state.
The second wave of Western air strikes also hit Gaddafi's troops around Ajdabiyah, a strategic town in the barren, scrub of east Libya that rebels aim to retake and where their fighters said they need more help to take the fight to the enemy.
"If we don't get more help from the West, Gaddafi's forces will eat us alive," rebel fighter Nouh Musmari told Reuters.
The UN-mandated intervention to protect civilians caught up in a one-month-old revolt against Gaddafi drew criticism from Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who questioned the need for a heavy bombardment, which he said had killed many civilians.
Moussa said on Monday however that the League respected the UN resolution while stressing a need to protect civilians.
The United States, carrying out the air strikes in a coalition with Britain, France, Italy and Canada among others, said the campaign was working and dismissed a ceasefire announcement by the Libyan military on Sunday evening.
Henri Guaino, one of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's closest aides, said the strikes were not aimed at ousting the autocrat who has ruled Libya for 41 years but told RMC radio that they were likely to last "a little while".
Britain's Defence Ministry said one of its submarines had again fired Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of a second wave of attacks to enforce the UN resolution but that one air force mission was called off because of civilians in the target area.
"As the RAF GR4 Tornados approached the target, further information came to light ... As a result the decision was taken not to launch weapons," a ministry spokesman said, adding this underlined the British commitment to protecting civilians.
The Libyan government urged people in towns, cities and tribes to join a march from Tripoli to Benghazi "so we could exchange condolences, ... announce forgiveness ... and then we could sit down as one family ..."
The intervention in Libya is the biggest against an Arab country since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Withdrawal of Arab support would make it much harder to pursue what some defence analysts say could in any case be a difficult, open-ended campaign with an uncertain outcome.
Asked about Moussa's concerns about the conduct of the campaign, Michele Flournoy, Under Secretary at the US Department for Defense, told the BBC:
"I think that may be the case that people don't understand the military dimensions of what was required to establish the no-fly zone but I can tell you that we continue to have ... statements of support from a number of Arab countries."
Italy said it had warplanes in the air, after US and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, director of the US military's Joint Staff, told reporters there had been no new Libyan air activity or radar emissions, but a significant decrease in Libyan air surveillance, since strikes began Saturday.
Benghazi was not yet free from threat, said Gortney, but Gaddafi forces in the area were in distress and "suffering from isolation and confusion" after the air assaults.
Late on Sunday night, Libyan officials took Western reporters to Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli, a sprawling complex that houses his private quarters as well as military barracks, anti-aircraft batteries and other installations, to see what they said was the site of a missile attack two hours earlier.
A short walk from a brightly lit tent where Gaddafi receives his guests, the three-storey building stood in ruins, and a circular hole was visible on its gutted facade. The United States says it does not have Gaddafi on its target list.
A Libyan military spokesman announced a new ceasefire on Sunday, saying that "the Libyan armed forces ... have issued a command to all military units to safeguard an immediate ceasefire from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) this evening".