NATO Bombs Tripoli Port, Gaddafi Residence

NATO stepped up its bombings of the Libyan capital on Sunday, targeting the port and a residential complex of leader Muammar Gaddafi, state television reported.

Official sources said NATO planes carried out several military raids early today against the Tripoli shoreline, where they sank five ships in a similar bombing on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, Western aircraft attacked the ports of Sirte and Al-Khums in the east, destroying or severely damaging three other presumably military ships.

From Saturday night to early this morning, several explosions and low-flying fighter planes could be heard in the city, including in the Bab Al-Aziziyah neighbourhood in central Tripoli, where Gaddafi has a residence.

A spokesman said four people were hurt in that raid, but he did not specify the gravity of their injuries.

A large number of foreign news reporters tried to verify the magnitude of the NATO attacks, but the danger of further raids led authorities to ban access to the sites, according to a commentator on the public television channel Al Jamahiriya.

In recent weeks, NATO has launched systematic air strikes against the capital in an increasingly evident attempt to kill Gaddafi, despite the fact that NATO claims its goal is to protect civilians.

During an attack on the home of the leader ‘s youngest son near Bab Al-Aziziyah a few weeks ago, that son and three of Gaddafi ‘s grandchildren were killed, while Gaddafi and his wife, who were in the house, were unhurt, the government reported.

NATO also fired on positions held by regular Libyan army troops fighting armed rebels in the Western Mountains near the Tunisian border, leading Tunisia to step up its alert along the border.

Meanwhile, former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who was invited by a nongovernmental organization to verify the situation in Libya, said “The last thing we need to do is spend money on death, destruction and war.”

“I think it is very important for people to understand what is happening here, and for the whole world to see the truth,” the former Democratic congresswoman told state television.