Misarath, April 15: Libyan revolutionary forces have cautioned that troops loyal to embattled ruler Muammar Gaddafi would likely perpetrate a massacre in the northwestern city of Misratah.
“A massacre … will take place here if NATO does not intervene strongly,” an opposition spokesman who identified himself as Abdelsalam told Reuters.
He added that government forces fired dozens of rockets at the coastal city on Thursday.
Abdelsalam said that at least eight opposition fighters were killed and another 20 were wounded in the rocket attacks.
Scores of people were reportedly killed on Thursday after NATO warplanes launched fresh air strikes on the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
“Tripoli is now subjected to air strikes. There are civilian casualties,” said an anchor of Libya’s state-owned TV.
Plumes of smoke rose from the southeast of the city following the aerial attacks. Warplanes were also heard swooping at low altitude over the city center.
Western warplanes began their air assaults on Libya last month under a UN no-fly zone mandate. Thousands of civilians have been killed in the NATO-led campaign.
Libyan anti-government forces, inspired by revolutions that toppled authoritarian rulers in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt, are fighting to topple Gaddafi, who has ruled the country for over 41 years.
——-Agencies