NATO airstrikes kill 15 civilians, say Libyan officials

A file picture of NATO F18 fighters returning from a mission -- Libyan officials Saturday said a NATO airstrike killed 15 civilians.Libyan footballers defect and some arrive in Zintan to cheering crowdsThe NATO airstrikes were conducted in al-BregaNATO says the buildings were clear military targets and no civilians were killedThe African Union will discuss avenues for peace Sunday

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- NATO airstrikes hit a bakery and a restaurant in the Libyan city of al-Brega Saturday, killing 15 civilians, a Libyan government official told CNN.

NATO denied the claim and said it had struck key command-and-control centers. The alliance said there was "no indication of civilian casualties in connection with these strikes."

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces have occupied buildings in an abandoned area of al-Brega from where they are launching attacks on civilians, a NATO statement said. The alliance monitored the buildings and said it determined them to be clear military targets.

"This continues to show Gadhafi's reprehensible tactics of placing military assets and operations at the heart of civilian neighborhoods," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, NATO commander for the Libya campaign.

"We have meticulously monitored these developments for a significant period and it was time to remove this threat," he said.

Al-Brega is a key oil refinery town about 500 miles east of Tripoli that has been the scene of heavy fighting between pro-Gadhafi forces and rebel fighters.

Also Saturday, 17 prominent Libyan football players defected to the rebels, said Jalal el-Gallal, a spokesman for the opposition's Transitional National Council.

Some were former members of the national team and they 29arrived in the rebel stronghold of Zintan in western Libya Saturday afternoon to cheering crowds who greeted them with celebratory gunfire.

"I am telling Colonel Gadhafi to leave us alone and allow us to create a free Libya," goalkeeper Juma Gtat told BBC news earlier in the town of Jadu.

"In fact I wish he would leave this life altogether," Gtat said.

The footballers' defections comes after a series of Libyan officials have done the same.

Despite the airstrikes and an armed rebel movement, Gadhafi has held onto power. Hopes for a political solution are at a stalemate over opposition conditions that Gadhafi must leave the country before any negotiated settlement can take hold.

Libyan government officials have said repeatedly that Gadhafi's departure cannot be a prerequisite to talks.

The African Union will try again Sunday to discuss a road map to quell the Libyan crisis. The African Union's special committee on Libya, established in March, will convene in Pretoria, South Africa, to discuss avenues for peace.

Over the last three months, panel members have met with both Gadhafi and opposition leaders.

Ahead of the meeting, human rights activists urged the African Union to prioritize the issue the plight of civilians caught in armed conflicts, including Libya.

Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have blamed the Gadhafi regime for violations of human rights, including indiscriminate fire on civilians, the use of internationally banned cluster bombs and the torture and executions of captured fighters.

CNN's Raja Razek, Yousuf Basil and Ingrid Formanek and journalist David Adams contributed to this report.

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