Libyan army 'to pull out' from Misurata
23/04/2011| IslamWeb
Khaled Kaim, Libya's deputy foreign minister, says "pro-government forces will withdraw from the besieged city of Misurata, leaving the tribes to deal with the opposition fighters".
Kaim said the Libyan army, loyal to Gaddafi, had been given an "ultimatum" to stop the "rebellion" in the western city, 200km east of the capital, Tripoli.
Kaim's announcement appears to mark a shift in tactics by pro-Gaddafi forces in Misurata, which has come under heavy fire for weeks.
Meanwhile, one of the wounded Gaddafi soldiers captured by opposition forces on Saturday said the Libyan (Gaddafi) army has been ordered to pull out from Misurata.
Khaled Dorman told Reuters news agency: "We have been told to withdraw. We were told to withdraw yesterday."
Later on Friday, NATO air strikes struck what appeared to be a bunker near Gaddafi's compound in central Tripoli.
Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said three people were killed by the "very powerful explosion" in a car park near Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound.
Reuters reporters said the area was surrounded by a wall and guarded by watchtowers and soldiers. They saw two large holes in the ground where the bombs had torn through soil and reinforced concrete, to pierce what appeared to be an underground bunker.
Smoke was rising from one of the craters and ammunition crates lay nearby. Ibrahim said the area was disused and the ammunition boxes were empty.
Need for transitional government
McCain, a US senator who is one of the strongest proponents in the US congress of American military intervention in Libya, called on Washington to recognise Libyan opposition's transitional council as the true voice of the Libyan people and transfer frozen assets to them.
He also said that the NATO air campaign should be intensified, adding that Western allies should provide opposition with training, weapons and command-and-control activities to help overthrow Gaddafi.
Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from Benghazi, says broader recognition "gives the transitional council a legal standing which it does not at the moment enjoy" along with "extra finance" and "greater political authenticity within Libya itself".
"If the council is recognised as the authentic voice of the Libyan people, then they could receive those funds that have been frozen abroad from the Gaddafi regime," he said.
McCain, who is the first senior politician from the United States to visit Benghazi since the conflict broke out in late February, made the trip to Libya on his own.
An aide said he met opposition leaders including finance chief Ali Tarhouni and armed forces head Abdel Fattah Younes.
Drone missions
The US senator's arrival came close on the heels of the US president approving the use of armed drones in Libya against ground forces for the first time since America handed over the military operation to NATO.
The first armed drone mission since Obama's go-ahead was flown on Thursday, but the aircraft, armed with Hellfire missiles, turned back due to poor weather conditions without firing any of its munitions.
Marine General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the drones can help counteract the pro-Gaddafi forces' tactic of travelling in civilian vehicles that make it difficult to distinguish them from opposition forces.
"What they will bring that is unique to the conflict is their ability to get down lower, therefore to be able to get better visibility on targets that have started to dig themselves into defensive positions," Cartwright said.
Gates, who publicly expressed scepticism about getting involved militarily in Libya before Obama endorsed the limited intervention, said "the real work" of overthrowing Gaddafi will have to be done by the Libyans themselves.
PHOTO CAPTION
Libyan opposition fighters carry out a comrade wounded during an effort to dislodge some ensconced Gaddafi loyalist troops who were firing on them from a building (background) during house-to-house fighting on Tripoli Street in downtown Misrata April 20, 2011 in Misrata, Libya.
Al-Jazeera