Libyan TV: Forces exchange fire with NATO vessels

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Libyan TV: Forces exchange fire with NATO vessels

By the CNN Wire Staff

May 17, 2011 -- Updated 2056 GMT (0456 HKT)

Benghazi, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan armed forces exchanged fire with NATO vessels

that were shelling west of Misrata -- striking one of them directly, Libyan

state television reported late Tuesday.

The report came as fighting continued in Misrata, where seven people died and 32

were wounded Tuesday in fighting, said Khaled Abu Falgha, a physician at

Al-Hikma Hospital in the city.

Most of the casualties were among the rebels and occurred on Misrata's eastern

edge, near the Tawergha area. Fighting there has been going on for three days,

since rebels took control of the nearby airport and civil defense base, he said.

The continued attacks came as the state-run Tunisian news agency reported that

two former high-level Libyan government officials have crossed the border into

Tunisia in the past few days.

Abdallah Mahmoud al-Hijazi, the former adviser to the Foreign Affairs General

Secretariat and deputy-director of Libyan military intelligence, entered Tunisia

on Tuesday through the Ras Jedir border crossing, said Tunis Afrique Presse, or

TAP.

He headed for the Tunisian tourist island of Djerba accompanied by four former

civil servants, it said.

The news agency also reported that the Libyan oil minister, Choukri Ghanem, had

crossed the border via the same border crossing on Saturday.

Their intentions were not immediately clear. Libyan government spokesman Moussa

Ibrahim denied Monday that Ghanem had defected, and said he was still on the

job.

Early Tuesday, in the capital city of Tripoli, crowds gathered outside two

burning buildings, the aftermath of what a Libyan official said were NATO

airstrikes on government facilities.

Ibrahim said the buildings housed the Ministry of Popular Inspection and

Oversight -- a government anti-corruption body -- and the head of the police

force in Tripoli. There were no reports of casualties.

Some people ventured outside to inspect the damage. Others, including a group of

young men carrying a portrait of Moammar Gadhafi and waving the country's green

flag, marched in front of the buildings chanting slogans of support for the

Libyan leader.

Documents were strewn over the grounds of the ministry building. Ibrahim told

reporters that in the last few days, the ministry had put together corruption

files against leaders in the Libyan opposition's Transitional National Council.

He said the files " fortunately survived. "

The area teemed with security forces, and men in civilian clothing carrying

AK-47s. Some shot into the air in a show of anger.

" Is this their (NATO's) protection of civilians or terrifying civilians? " one of

the men asked CNN. " This is a civilian neighborhood. ... Residents are

terrified. "

NATO on Tuesday said that, during the previous 24 hours, planes had hit a

" command & control node " and a " military training facility " in Tripoli and

struck radar systems in the vicinity of Tripoli.

The damage in the capital is one of the latest developments in Libya's see-saw

war, which has raged for months with no end in sight.

NATO is operating under a U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use

of force and any means -- except occupation -- to protect civilians. Allied

forces have conducted airstrikes on Gadhafi's resources for almost two months.

Heavy shelling has erupted on the Libyan side of the Tunisian-Libyan border,

according to Tunisia's official news agency, and some has spilled over to the

Tunisian side. Fighting has intensified in recent weeks as Gadhafi forces have

tried to regain control of the border.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said fighting in Misrata and other

cities was keeping medical aid from reaching civilians and causing casualties

among health personnel.

The Libyan Red Crescent reported that three of its ambulances had been hit in

separate incidents in recent days, resulting in the death of a nurse and wounds

to a patient and three volunteers.

It has also received allegations concerning the misuse of the Red Cross and Red

Crescent emblems to support military operations and the use of ambulances to

transport arms and fighters.

" All parties to the conflict must refrain from harming injured people, medical

personnel, medical vehicles and medical facilities, " said Georgios Georgantas,

the ICRC's deputy head of operations for North and West Africa.

" Medical personnel and ambulances must be allowed to reach the wounded. We

reiterate our call to the authorities and to all weapons bearers to respect

medical services and the emblems of the Red Crescent and Red Cross. "

Libyan opposition members are demanding freedom and an end to Gadhafi's nearly

42-year rule.

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has sought the arrest

of Gadhafi and two relatives, linking them Monday to " widespread and systematic "

attacks on civilians.

Moreno-Ocampo told reporters his office has " direct evidence " linking

Gadhafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and his brother-in-law Abdullah

al-Sanussi to crimes against humanity.

Ibrahim, the government spokesman, denied accusations against the regime. Judges

on the international court must now decide whether to issue the arrest warrants

Moreno-Ocampo wants.

Security forces in Libya are accused of using sexual enhancement drugs as a

" machete " and gang-raping women they stop at checkpoints, Moreno-Ocampo said.

Meanwhile, the government spokesman said four Western journalists detained by

Libyan authorities were to appear Tuesday in court.

Ibrahim said Monday night he expected the American and Spanish journalists to be

fined and released. He said he could not confirm the names of the journalists

because he did not have the list.

Ibrahim said the journalists were detained for entering the country illegally

from the east. Libyan authorities have threatened to detain journalists passing

through the rebel-controlled eastern part of the country.

Many people have been working out ways to flee Libya.

The U.N. refugee agency said on Tuesday that hundreds of people who had fled

Libya for Tunisia and Egypt " have crossed back into Libya with the intention of

boarding boats to reach Europe. "

Members of the Somali, Ethiopian and Eritrean communities in camps at Shousha

near Tunisia's border with Libya are among them. About 14,000 people have been

taken by boat from Libya to Italy and Malta, the Office of the U.N. High

Commissioner for Refugees said.

The agency said most have made the journey in boats " overladen with passengers

and in a very poor state of repair. " Frequently, there's " no qualified skipper

or crew to operate the boat. "

" UNHCR has met with refugees in Tripoli who are planning to make this

treacherous journey, " the agency said.

" UNHCR repeats its call to all vessels on the Mediterranean to consider all

boats departing Libya to be in need of assistance, and likely to face a

situation of distress at some point in the journey. "