Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- A few hundred people gathered at a Tripoli cemetery Saturday to bury the alleged victims of a NATO airstrike in al-Brega a day earlier.
Eleven imams were killed Friday when the house they were staying in was struck, the Libyan government said. The imams were on a peace mission to the eastern towns of Benghazi and Ajdabiya when the strike occurred, the government said.
Among those present at the funerals Saturday was a 25-year-old sheikh who said he was a survivor of the airstrike.
He told CNN the guest house where he and 15 other imams were staying was in a residential area.
The first missile struck about 1 a.m., killing one imam, the sheikh said, who was not named for security purposes.
Two more missiles struck while rescuers were inside the house, the sheikh said, who noted that the emergency workers were among the casualties in the "flattened" residence.
The sheikh and his colleagues were asked to go to al-Brega from Sirt to do Quran readings, hold sermons and Friday prayers, and go live on state television from the port, he said. The group was asked to travel to al-Brega by the Religious Endowments Ministry to show that the city is not controlled by rebels and demonstrate that "normal" life prevails there, the sheikh said.
The young man said he is in "shock" over the loss of fellow Quran teachers who he had studied with and known for years.
He also marveled at how he was able to survive the strike, describing the crater as being about five meters deep.
NATO's military office confirmed that NATO conducted an airstrike in al-Brega on Friday but said the target was clearly identified as a command and control structure, which was being used by the Gadhafi regime to coordinate attacks against the civilian population.
"We are aware of allegations of civilian casualties in connection to this strike, and although we cannot independently confirm the validity of the claim, we regret any loss of life by innocent civilians when they occur," NATO said in a statement.
Ahmed Bani, a rebel military spokesman, denied that civilian casualties were caused by NATO strikes.
All civilians have left the al-Brega area, Bani said. The remaining population are pro-Gadhafi forces and have taken up positions in civilian neighborhoods, hiding equipment and ammunition, he said.
At the funerals Saturday, CNN counted nine coffins which the government said contained the bodies of the imams.
The date and time for the funerals was continuously announced on state TV and government text messages were sent out to cell phones alerting people. Yet the turnout was not as high as many had expected, with only a few hundred there -- many of them security forces who shot in the air with their AK-47s in a show of anger and grief during the burials.
The bodies, wrapped in green shrouds with flowers on their chests, were driven in by ambulances and then were carried by the crowds that had gathered.
Angry crowds chanted anti-NATO country slogans like "down, down Sarkozy," referring to the French president, as NATO jets flew overhead, infuriating the crowds more.
Libyan government officials took journalists to a Tripoli mosque Friday where a news conference was held by government spokesman Musa Ibrahim and a number of officials including two imams.
Ibrahim described the strike as "barbaric" and a "heinous crime."
One of the imams at the press conference called on Muslims to avenge the alleged killings.
"We will call upon the Muslims all around the world, to take revenge for our brothers who died today. Today, for every man who died we should take down 1,000 men from France, Britain, America and Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates," Sheikh Nur-aldin al-Mijrab said.This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
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