Blasts rock Libyan capital as NATO targets vehicle storage facility

Blasts rock Libyan capital as NATO targets vehicle storage facility

2011-05-24 07:33:15 GMT+7 (ICT)

TRIPOLI (BNO NEWS) -- A series of large explosions shook the Libyan capital of Tripoli on early Tuesday morning, witnesses said, while NATO confirmed it was targeting a vehicle storage facility.

The series of at least 18 dozen explosions began at around 1 a.m. local time, according to reporters who stay at the Rixos Hotel. "I have never heard quite such loud explosions," Sky News reporter Mark Stone said.

"This has been [the] heaviest airstrike in this vicinity for more than two weeks," IVT News correspondent Angus Walker said, adding that the explosions continued for almost half an hour. Stone also reported hearing volleys of anti-aircraft fire from the ground.

Meanwhile, NATO confirmed its forces struck a vehicle storage facility adjacent to the Bab Al Aziziyah complex in Tripoli. "This facility is known to have been active during the initial regime suppression of the population in February 2011 and has remained so ever since; resupplying the regime forces that have been conducting attacks against innocent civilians," NATO said in a statement.

"Gaddafi's forces still represent a threat to civilians and we will continue to strike targets that carry out this violence," Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, Commander of NATO's Operation Unified Protector, said.

Independent reports of casualties, if any, were not immediately available. A Libyan government spokesman, however, claimed that at least three civilians were killed while 150 others were injured.

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