Saturday, April 16, 2011

Cluster Bombs


Cluster Bombs
For several days, opposition fighters say they have maintained their positions around the city of Ajdabiya, about 30 miles to the east - and have now pushed further west.
The rebels claim they have reached Brega's university campus, just outside the town's oil port.
Brega has changed hands around half a dozen times since March and a rebel officer said if the opposition retakes it, they will bring engineers to repair any damage to the refinery and oil facilities there.
Six people were killed and 20 wounded in fighting west of Ajdabiya on Saturday, medics said.
Rocket fire by Col Gaddafi's troops struck rebel positions between Ajdabiya and Brega, they claimed.
Meanwhile, Libya's military has fired controversial cluster munitions into residential areas as it battles rebels for control of the western city of Misratah, a human rights group says.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it saw at least three of the controversial devices - which scatter a number of smaller bomblets over the target - explode over the al Shawahda neighbourhood on April 14.
Researchers also inspected the remnants of a cluster submunition discovered by a New York Times reporter, which the group said was from a Spanish-produced mortar projectile.
The majority of countries in the world have banned the use of cluster munitions through the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but Libya is not among the signatories.
The area where HRW witnessed the use of cluster munitions is near the front line in the fighting which has raged for six weeks.
However, Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim rejected the allegations.
"I challenge them to prove it," he said. "To use these bombs, the evidence would remain for days and weeks, and we know the international community is coming en masse to our country soon, so we can't do this."
Rebels said pro-Gaddafi forces fired mortars at residential areas in Misratah on Saturday and that three people were killed in clashes there.
A Red Cross team has arrived in Libya's third city to assess the situation and help civilians trapped by the fighting.
Earlier this week, the organisation said it was opening an office in the capital Tripoli at the invitation of the Libyan government.
HRW said it had not been able to confirm if civilians had been killed or wounded by cluster munitions in Misratah, but said their use was "appalling".
"They pose a huge risk to civilians, both during attacks because of their indiscriminate nature and afterward because of the still-dangerous unexploded duds scattered about," said Steve Goose, HRW's arms division director.
Col Gaddafi's forces bombarded Misratah with hundreds of rockets and reportedly battled their way into the city centre.
"Today was very tough... Gaddafi's forces entered Tripoli Street and Nakl al Theqeel road," a rebel spokesman said.
"Witnesses said they saw pro-Gaddafi soldiers on foot in the city centre today. Except for snipers, they usually stay in their tanks and armoured vehicles."
Anti-Gaddafi forces in Misratah have complained that Nato is not doing enough to help them, and it was reported that a Libyan military reconnaissance helicopter was able to fly over the city on Friday.
Britain and France are seeking to convince Nato allies to provide greater fire power, but US President Barack Obama has said the US will not increase its military role.
However, Nato's secretary general has said he expects member nations to provide extra ground-attack aircraft to strike Col Gaddafi's forces.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he was confident military commanders would get the additional resources soon, despite a meeting of the alliance ending with no concrete commitments
Sources: http://news.sky.com

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