THE GUARDIAN: Government claims attack by Nato on Brega guest house killed 11 imams as Gaddafi broadcast quashes rumours he had been injured in an air strikeLibyan officials have accused Nato of "barbarically slaying" 11 Islamic imams and wounding 45 others by bombing a guest house in the eastern city of Brega, where they had gathered for a peace march into rebel-held territory.
Officials in Tripoli showed video footage of up to seven corpses whom they identified as imams killed when a bomb was dropped on the building in which they were sleeping.
The group had reportedly travelled to Brega from across the war-torn country. They had appeared on state-run television on Thursday and, according to government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim, planned to move to the nearby city of Ajdabiya on Friday and then to Benghazi.
It was impossible to corroborate the government claims. However, funerals for the victims have been arranged across the country on Saturday and Christian priests joined Muslim leaders in condemning the deaths at a central Tripoli mosque late on Friday.
Nato had not offered a detailed response to the Libyan claims by Friday night. A Nato official initially said the site hit had been a "command and control centre" for the Libyan military, but did not elaborate further. » | Martin Chulov | Friday, May 13, 2011
