NATO airstrikes ‘miss the mark’

Libyan officials have taken journalists to a cafe near the parliament they say was hit by a NATO air strike.

It was visited by the Russian envoy to Libya, who warned that the rebels and NATO’s prime objective in their four months of fighting appeared no nearer.

“Libya’s prime minister says that for the Libyan government there is one red line that they will not step over, and that is the political destiny of Muammar Gaddafi,” said Mikhail Margelov.

Progress remains slow for the rebels making their way from the east along the main coast road towards the capital Tripoli.. A major problem is NATO’s desire to avoid attacking their forces by mistake, asking them to pull back and surrendering hard-won territory.

“Mistakes in war are expected to happen, it’s not a big problem, mistakes must happen, it’s out of our control, but we hope NATO intensifies its airstrikes to get rid of the tyrant,” said one young Benghazi resident.

The rebels are investigating if one such mistake left 16 injured on Thursday when an air strike also destroyed five rebel pick-ups with anti-aircraft guns mounted on them near Ajdabiyah.

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