Fighting intensifies in Libya despite air strikes

Pro-Gadhafi forces have resumed their assault on Misrata, Libya’s third largest city, after being temporarily driven back by coalition aerial bombings on Thursday. Four Canadian CF-18 fighter jets were involved in the aerial assault that bombarded Libyan armed forces in an attempt to stop pro-Gadhafi forces from attacking civilians. While the bombardments were initially successful, government forces soon regrouped and resumed their weeklong assault on Misrata, where an estimated 1,000 people were either wounded or simply taking shelter in the central hospital with no electricity. A spokesman for the National Council, the main opposition group, told reporters that government forces have been “targeting civilians and ambulances trying to enter the hospital from snipers on rooftops.” Meanwhile, Canadian Maj.-Gen. Tom Lawson, the deputy chief of air staff, told reporters at a briefing in Ottawa that Canada’s first bombing run since Kosovo succeeded in destroying an ammunition depot in Misrata, and that the attack “was very successful and their was no collateral damage.”

Toronto Star