Thread: Tripoli bombed, Oil Minister leaves country

Tripoli bombed, Oil Minister leaves country

Pressure piled on Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi on Tuesday as his Oil Minister appeared to have defected, Moscow issued a rebuke, NATO jets pounded Tripoli and a leading prosecutor sought his arrest for crimes against humanity.

A Tunisian government source told AFP that Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem, a veteran of Mr. Qadhafi's regime, has left his country and is in neighbouring Tunisia.

(snip ... )

Overnight, air strikes by NATO set fire to two buildings near Mr. Qadhafi's compound in the Libyan capital, according to an AFP reporter who along with other journalists was taken by the Libyan authorities to the site, where firefighters battled the flames.

Parts of Tripoli have been targeted almost daily by NATO-led strikes launched on March 19 after a U.N. resolution mandated a no-fly zone and called for the protection of civilians from Mr. Qadhafi's regime.

Britain, one of the main powers enforcing the no-fly zone, confirmed attacks overnight in Tripoli involving Tomahawk missiles and Royal Air Force Tornado aircraft which it said struck intelligence agency buildings and a military training base.

The Hindu : News / International : Tripoli bombed, Oil Minister leaves country

Another defection from Gadaffi's gov't. Maybe it will just crumble, all once, sometime in the next few weeks.