Nato stages rare daytime air strike on Tripoli

Nato carried out a rare daytime air strike on Tripoli on Saturday after a fifth straight night of attacks, adding to military and diplomatic pressure on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to quit after 41 years of power.

A big boom shook the Libya capital at about 0800 GMT but it was unclear if it was caused by a bomb or missile, or what the target was. No further information was immediately available. Nato bombed several sites in the capital on Friday night, Libyan state television and Arab news channel Al Arabiya reported. The Libyan broadcaster said Nato raids also caused “human and material” damage near Mizda, to the south.

Russia joined Western leaders on Friday in urging Gaddafi to step down and offered to mediate his departure, providing an important boost to Nato powers seeking to end his long rule. It was a striking change in tone from Moscow, which has previously criticised the 10-week bombing of Libya. Nato intervened under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians from Gaddafi’s forces, but has effectively placed itself on the side of rebels trying to topple him in a deadlocked civil war.

Nato said it was preparing to deploy attack helicopters over the Arab North African state for the first time to increase the pressure on Gaddafi’s forces on the ground.

“There are signs that the momentum against Gaddafi is really building. So it is right that we are ratcheting up the military, the economic and the political pressure,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said at a Group of Eight summit in France. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, no longer had the right to lead Libya.

RUSSIA TO HOLD TALKS IN LIBYA
“The world community does not see him as the leader of Libya,” Medvedev told reporters at the summit, adding that he was sending an envoy to Libya to begin talks. But he presented no plan to remove Gaddafi from power.

In Tripoli, Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told a news conference the government had not been officially informed of the Russian position.