THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Col Muammar Gaddafi and his armed forces have been directly targetted in a series of precision strikes in Tripoli and the key town of Misurata as concerns grow that the regime is attempting to swamp Europe with refugees.
The new phase of highly accurate attacks, shown in photographs released by the Ministry of Defence on Tuesday, was launched as an increasingly desperate refugee crisis has seen thousands from Libya flee for Europe in just a few days.
In a sign that the regime is trying to force a refugee crisis as a weapon against its Nato enemies, almost 1,900 people from Libya arrived in five boats on the Italian islands of Lampedusa and Linosa this weekend alone. Another vessel sank - bringing the total lost to four boats.
Hundreds of bodies are now washing ashore along the Libyan coast. Some of the refugees said they were forced on to the boats by Libyan troops and police, the International Organisation for Migration reported. Others were given free passage, in contrast to the normal practice where migrants are charged fortunes for the crossing.
"The flow of migrants from Libya to Italy has undeniably accelerated very recently," said the IOM's spokesman, Jean Philippe Chauzy. "Until recently, the flow to Europe was overwhelmingly Tunisians and there were no departures [by sea] from Libya. But as of yesterday, a total of 12,360 people on 35 vessels have arrived in Lampedusa and Malta from Libya." » | Thomas Harding, and Andrew Gilligan in Tripoli | Tuesday, May 10, 2011
