Gaddafi compound strike hit control center: Official

TRIPOLI: A missile totally destroyed an administrative building of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's residence in Tripoli. 

The building, about 50 metres from the tent where Gaddafi generally meets guests, was flattened. It was hit by a missile, Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim told journalists, who were taken to the site by bus. 

"This was a barbaric bombing which could have hit hundreds of civilians gathered at the residence ofMuammar Gaddafi about 400 metres away from the building which was hit," Ibrahim said. 

He denounced the "contradictions in Western discourses," saying: "Western countries say they want to protect civilians while they bomb the residence knowing there are civilians inside." 

Scores of Gaddafi supporters rushed towards the complex at Bab el-Aziziya in the south of the Libyan capital after a rumour spread that a plane had been shot down and crashed. 

"Where is the plane?" several of them, mainly youths, cried. 

Smoke billowed from the residence and barracks as anti-aircraft guns fired shots. 

Tripoli was rocked by powerful explosions late Sunday, of which one was heard coming from the area around Kadhafi's residence. 

Gaddafi's army announced a new ceasefire yesterday, saying it was heeding an African Union call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, but the United States accused Tripoli of breaching the truce almost immediately. 

"I sincerely hope and urge the Libyan authorities to keep their word," United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a swift reaction during a visit to Libya's eastern neighbour Egypt. 

"They have been continuing to attack the civilian population. This (offer) has to be verified and tested," he told a news conference in Cairo. 

Gaddafi's regime had declared a ceasefire on Friday after UN Security Council resolution 1973 authorised any necessary measures, including a no-fly zone, to stop his forces harming civilians in the fight against the rebels.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Gaddafi-compound-strike-hit-control-center-Official/articleshow/7750727.cms

IAF aircraft to join evacuation operations from Libya

NEW DELHI: As Libya swiftly descended into civil war, India decided to use an Il-76 transport aircraft of the IAF to ferry stranded citizens. From Thursday, the "Gajraj" aircraft will ferry people between Sirde in Libya and Cairo. 

A wide-bodied aircraft has also been requisitioned by Air India to ferry people out of Sebha, sources said. 

Sirde and Sebha are two towns with 2,000-strong concentrations of Indians each. 

Officials acknowledged that India had been slow to start evacuation, but was currently taking out about 1,000 people every day and promised to complete the process by next week. 

Even as China seemed on the verge of completing evacuation operations in Libya, having already pulled out over 32,000 of its nationals from the country, India only had a little over 6,000 evacuees to show for its efforts till Wednesday evening. The Chinese figure of 32,000 evacuees, mostly being doled out by official news agencies, however, seemed to have stirred a debate with foreign secretary Nirupama Rao herself saying that there was "no clarity'' over the number of Chinese evacuees. 

"Incidentally, no real clarity about nos. of Chinese evacuees so far,'' said Rao in a tweet on Wednesday evening. Earlier in the day, she tweeted, "India has chartered ships and aircraft. Please believe me when I say this. I will not comment on the Chinese statistics.'' 

Close to 12,000 Indians though are still stranded in the country, many of them in the interiors who are finding it increasingly difficult to reach Tripoli from where evacuation flights are operating. 

A ship, MV Scotia Prince, carrying 1,188 Indians docked in Alexandria on Wednesday night. After their papers are processed, they will travel back to India on EgyptAir flights. The ship will turn around to go back to Benghazi, reaching on March 5 to pick up another 1,100 Indians. 

A second ship may be put into service in a more sensitive part of Libya where some Indians are stuck. 

Officials said Indian companies were actually sending their managers back into Libya to help bring back their employees. This is very different from companies from other countries who are leaving their Asian employees behind. 

Three flights -- two Boeing 747s and one Airbus-330 -- brought back 1,045 Indians from Tripoli early Wednesday. Another three flights have left for Tripoli and are expected to ferry back 1,002 people. Three daily flights to Tripoli will continue over the coming days and these may be stepped up, said the foreign ministry. 

Separately, a chartered flight carrying 78 Indians from Sirde (Libya) reached Larnaca ( Cyprus) on Tuesday evening. These people will be booked on commercial flights to India. 

So far 126 Indians have left Libya in small numbers on their own, in coordination with Indian missions in and around Libya, the MEA said. As many as 267 Indians have, by now, crossed over to Salloum ( Egypt) by the land route and the Indian embassy in Cairo has already facilitated the return of some 180 of them in batches, to Mumbai by regular Gulf Air flights, it said. 

Also, close to 1,400 people persons have reached Djerba in Algeria, where the Indian embassy staff from Tunis have put them up in hotels. 

Read more: IAF aircraft to join evacuation operations from Libya - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/IAF-aircraft-to-join-evacuation-operations-from-Libya/articleshow/7613076.cms#ixzz1FVRo3IoH

Gaddafi vows to fight on, die a martyr

Cairo:  Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi vows to fight on and die a "martyr," calling on his supporters to take back the streets from protesters demanding his ouster, shouting and pounding his fist in a furious speech Tuesday on state TV.

Gaddafi, swathed in brown robes and turban, spoke from a podium set up in the entrance of a bombed out building that appeared to be his Tripoli residence hit by U.S. airstrikes in the 1980s and left unrepaired as a monument of defiance. The speech, which appeared to have been taped earlier, was aired on a screen to hundreds of supporters massed in Tripoli's central Green Square.

Shouting in the rambling speech, he declared himself "a warrior" and proclaimed, "Libya wants glory, Libya wants to be at the pinnacle, at the pinnacle of the world."

At times the camera panned out to show a towering gold-colored monument in front of the building, showing a fist crushing a fighter jet with an American flag on it - a view that also gave the strange image of Gaddafi speaking alone from behind a podium in the building's crumbling lobby, with no audience in front of him.

"I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents... I will die as a martyr at the end," he said. "I have not yet ordered the use of force, not yet ordered one bullet to be fired... when I do, everything will burn."

Gaddafi depicted the protesters as misguided youths, who had been given drugs and money by a "small, sick group" to attack police and government buildings. He called on supporters to take to the streets immediately to reimpose control and to attack the protest leaders.

"You men and women who love Gaddafi... get out of your homes and fill the streets," he said. 

"Leave your homes and attack them in their lairs. They are taking your children and getting them drunk and sending them to death. For what? To destroy Libya, burn Libya."

"The police cordons will be lifted, go out and fight them," he said, urging youth to form local committees across the country "for the defense of the revolution and the defense of Gaddafi," even asking them to wear green armbands.

"Let us show them what the popular revolution is like," he said. "Go out from your homes starting now."

Tripoli has been torn by two nights of bloodshed as pro-Gaddafi militiamen cracked down on protesters. Across the country, at least 250 people have been killed in a week of unrest.

Sorce:- http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/gaddafi-vows-to-fight-on-die-a-martyr-87167?cp