In Libya, increasing evidence of civilian casualties from NATO airstrikes

In Libya, there’s growing evidence of civilian casualties from NATO led airstrikes.  A doctor from Ajdabiya has told the BBC that he was called to a village a few kilometers from Brega following a coalition airstrike against a Gaddafi convoy.  Dr Suleiman Refardi said one of the shells struck a truck and trailer containing ammunition, parked between two houses.  It exploded killing 7 people and injuring about 25.  The dead included three girls from the same family and 3 teenage boys. But the Doctor said the relatives of the dead wanted airstrikes to continue because they were stopping Gaddafi’s forces from killing even more civilians in their village and other towns and cities.

In Benghazi, an opposition leader has called for a ceasefire.   Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the interim governing council said the condition for a ceasefire would be the withdrawal of Gaddafi’s forces from Libyan cities.

Meanwhile, Gaddafi’s forces continue to shell the western town Misrata and according to Associate Press are in control of the city’s port and main street.  In the east, both sides are fighting for control over the oil town of Brega.  An Al Jazeera’s correspondent said the rebels are not only outgunned but according to American military intelligence, outnumber the rebels by ten to one. But a BBC correspondent in Brega says the rebel forces there are being helped by the recent arrival of a number of well-armed soldiers.  He couldn’t say where those troops came from.