NATO denies Libya claim raids kill more civilians (AFP)

TRIPOLI (AFP) – NATO came under verbal fire again on Saturday from Moamer Kadhafi's regime, which accused it of killing 15 more people in strikes on civilian sites in the eastern town of Brega, a claim promptly denied by the alliance.

Meanwhile, three powerful explosions struck the eastern Tripoli suburb of Tajura, where a number of military installations are located, and columns of smoke could be seen from the city centre, AFP correspondents said.

It was not known if the blasts were the result of an attack by NATO, which has repeatedly targeted the area in the past.

And in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi, a top official of the National Transitional Council (NTC) said rebels expect to receive an offer from Kadhafi "very soon" that could end the four-month-old war.

In the latest accusation against NATO, Libyan television said "the colonialist crusader Atlantic coalition bombed civilian sites, among them a bakery and a restaurant in Brega, creating 15 martyrs and more than 20 wounded, among them regular clients of those places."

Following the claim, a NATO spokesman said the alliance "did target buildings in an abandoned area of Brega. These were legitimate military targets that were hit.

"We took a long time to watch the area and make sure. Meticulous planning went into this."

A NATO official said that "since midnight (2200 GMT on Friday), we have not struck any targets in Brega," a key refinery town some 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of Tripoli and 240 kilometres southwest of Benghazi.

Separately, Operation Unified Protector's military spokesman Mike Bracken told AFP: "We take great care to avoid civilian casualties, and even at the last minute we will divert weapons to ensure civilians are not injured."

In London, British military spokesman Nick Pope said the attacks followed "sustained and intensive surveillance which had confirmed the use of the various buildings by regime troops and the absence of normal civilian patterns of life in the surrounding areas."

RAF Tornados had hit "a radar station, three command and control centres located in buildings which had been commandeered by the regime, and a warehouse complex used to stockpile military supplies," he said.

In Benghazi, NTC vice chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga told AFP that intermediaries had indicated a proposal from the Libyan strongman was in the works and that the rebels would give it serious consideration if they received it.

"We expect to get an offer very soon; he is unable to breathe," said Ghoga.

"We want to preserve life, so we want to end the war as soon as possible. We have always left him some room for an exit."

Ghoga said the NTC understood through contacts with France and South Africa that a Kadhafi offer was being prepared.

"These are the countries chosen by the Kadhafi regime to present a proposal to the National Transitional Council, but we have not received anything to date."

"We will take a serious look at it," Ghoga said, while reiterating the NTC's demands that any deal results in the removal of Kadhafi and his family from power and politics.

Rumours have been rife in recent days that Kadhafi may consider leaving Tripoli and that rebels could accept his internal exile to a remote location.

The rumours have been fuelled by a military deadlock on the ground and a steady trickle of defections from Kadhafi's forces.

The rebels said Saturday that 38 Kadhafi officers -- including six of high rank -- fled to Tunisia a day earlier.

But it remains to be seen if such a deal is just wishful thinking. So far efforts to reach a diplomatic end to the conflict have come to nothing.

In other developments, 17 of Libya's top footballers, including national team goalkeeper Juma Gtat, have defected to the rebels, Ghoga said.

"These 17 members were on their way to Mali when they declared their defection."

The BBC earlier reported the defections, which also included three other national team players and the coach of Tripoli's top club Al-Ahly, Adel bin Issa.

Gtat told the BBC: "I tell him (Kadhafi), leave us alone and leave the Libyan people (to) enjoy their life in new Libya, Libya for freedom."

And Issa said he wanted "to send a message that Libya should be unified and free," adding that he hoped "to wake up one morning to find that Kadhafi is no longer there."

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Moscow in mediation bid amid more Libya raids (AFP)

TRIPOLI (AFP) – Explosions rattled the Libyan capital overnight into Friday as a US official said strongman Moamer Kadhafi was increasingly isolated and Russia prepped an envoy to mediate the conflict.

Four explosions were first heard at 11:35 pm local time (2135 GMT) from the centre of Tripoli, followed by others about 15 minutes later.

Then at 1:45 am (2345 GMT), four powerful blasts shook the district where Kadhafi's residence is located not far from the city centre.

An army barracks in the same sector had been the target of several raids last week.

Earlier this week, government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said NATO air raids on Libya had killed 718 civilians and wounded 4,067 since they were unleashed on March 19 and up to May 26.

In Washington, US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen pointed to "some signs, certainly in the last few days, that Kadhafi is becoming more and more isolated."

He noted the defection of oil minister Shukri Ghanem, who had been a key figure in the regime, along with a group of "young generals" who had also parted with Kadhafi.

Mullen welcomed NATO's extension of its UN-mandated mission to protect civilians through military action until late September.

"I think from my perspective, and I've engaged with the commanders on this, that we're going to be okay until September," he said.

Earlier, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters Kadhafi's departure was only a question of time.

"The question is not if Kadhafi will go but when," Rasmussen said. "It could take some time yet but it could also happen tomorrow."

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow will be sending an envoy to Tripoli and the rebels' capital of Benghazi to mediate, the Italian news agency ANSA reported, quoting diplomats.

Medvedev stressed the importance of a negotiated settlement at talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome.

"We would like as much as possible for the problem to be resolved through negotiations and not by military means," Medvedev told reporters.

Russia has enjoyed close ties with Kadhafi's regime and abstained from the UN Security Council vote in March that gave the go-ahead for international military action in Libya.

But it has increasingly distanced itself from the regime and at a G8 summit in France last week, Medvedev pledged to ramp up diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

A commission of inquiry set up by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva accused Kadhafi's regime of carrying out systematic attacks on the population, charging it committed both crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The commission said it "reached the conclusion that crimes against humanity and war crimes have been committed by the government forces of Libya."

The investigative body noted it had received "fewer reports" of abuses by opposition forces but said it "did find some acts which would constitute war crimes."

In Benghazi, vice president of the rebel National Transitional Council Abdelhafiz Ghoga admitted that rebels had committed "violations, twice" as rebels feared terrorist acts by pro-Kadhafi forces in the rebel bastion.

"We feared a fifth column was operating in the city," he said, adding that rebel forces "are trying to treat prisoners according to the Geneva convention."

Ghoga also announced that rebel forces had detained three suspects in a car bombing that rocked Benghazi on Wednesday but caused no casualties.

"We captured three of the culprits behind the car bomb attack, we are looking for the others," Ghoga said.

Libya's rebel council earlier blamed Kadhafi's forces for the "terrorist attack" that hit the Tibesti hotel, where rebel leaders, journalists and diplomats stay.

Off the Tunisian coast, up to 270 migrants were missing after a ship packed with refugees fleeing Libya and headed for Italy capsized, authorities said.

Army and coastguard teams lifted 570 people off the overcrowded vessel after it ran aground and capsized near Tunisia's Kerkennah islands on Wednesday.

But between 200 and 270 were still missing after they tried to scramble aboard a flotilla of rescue boats, the official TAP news agency said.

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Syrian army conducts widespread raids, arrests

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian troops went door-to-door in cities and towns across the nation Monday, arresting scores of people in a campaign of intimidation aimed at crushing an uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime, activists said.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said hundreds of people had been arrested over the past two days alone.

"The arrests are ongoing, from the besieged southern city of Daraa to the country's north and passing through the suburbs of Damascus," he said.

Assad is determined to crush the 6-week-old revolt, which began in Daraa and quickly spread across the nation of some 23 million people. Rights groups say at least 545 Syrians have been killed since the uprising began in March.

Now, the once-unimaginable protests are posing the most serious challenge to four decades of rule by the Assad family in one of the most repressive countries in the Middle East.

"It seems the authorities have taken an undeclared decision to kill off the uprising using security and military means," said Abdul-Rahman, who is based in London.

Daraa, a drought-plagued city, has been under siege for a week since the regime sent in troops backed by tanks and snipers to crush protests. Electricity, power and fuel have been cut and the military has largely sealed off the area.

"I have never been so scared in all my life," said one Daraa resident who fled late Sunday to an area some 10 miles (16 kilometers) away.

"Security men have divided Daraa into four parts ? there was indiscriminate shelling yesterday, people are terrified," he told The Associated Press Monday. "It's like a military barracks there."

Also Monday, Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera said one of its journalists, Dorothy Parvaz, 39, has not been heard from since arriving Friday in Damascus. Parvaz, who had U.S., Iranian and Canadian citizenship, was a former reporter and columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"We are deeply concerned for Dorothy's safety, security, and well-being. We are requesting full cooperation from the Syrian authorities to determine what happened at the airport, what her current location is, and the status of her health," Al-Jazeera said in a statement.

In Damascus, a witness said security forces dispersed a group of about 100 women in the capital who were carrying banners of support for the women and children of Daraa.

Ten minutes into the protest, police broke it up by force, beating a few of the women, said the witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The witness accounts could not be independently confirmed. Syria keeps tight restrictions on the media and has expelled foreign journalists and restricted access to trouble spots.

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