TRIPOLI (Reuters) – NATO warplanes pounded Tripoli for a second day, raising military pressure on Muammar Gaddafi while diplomatic efforts mounted to force his departure.
Six loud explosions rocked Tripoli late on Tuesday within 10 minutes, following powerful strikes 24 hours earlier, including one on Gaddafi's compound, that Libyan officials said killed 19 people and state television blamed on "colonialist crusaders."
A NATO official said the alliance hit a vehicle storage bunker, a missile storage and maintenance site and a command- and-control site on the outskirts of Tripoli. Government targets around the Western rebel outpost of Misrata had also been hit.
"We were quite active in the past 24 hours and will continue to be so," the official said. "Striking fighting units and people trying to give the orders is having the desired effect."
Libyan news agency Jana says NATO hit a telecommunications station in Zlitan overnight, causing "material and human casualties losses" west of Misrata.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague dismissed fears that Western states were being drawn into an Iraq-style conflict. "It's very different from Iraq because of course in the case of Iraq there were very large numbers of ground forces deployed from Western nations," Hague told BBC Radio on Wednesday.
France, Britain and the United States are leading the air strikes, which began on March 19 after the U.N. Security Council authorized "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Gaddafi's forces as he sought to crush an uprising against his 41-year rule.
The three countries say they will keep up the campaign until Gaddafi leaves power. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Tuesday that the NATO bombing campaign was making progress and should achieve its objectives within months.
"There are more and more centers of resistance (to Gaddafi), especially in the west," Juppe said in the French parliament. "Defections are speeding up."
"I can assure you that our will is to ensure that the mission in Libya does not last longer than a few months."
France said this week it would deploy attack helicopters to ensure more precise attacks against Gaddafi forces embedded among the civilian population of Libyan cities. Britain said on Tuesday it was considering doing the same.
Military analysts said these plans and the intensified bombing of Tripoli reflected growing Western worries that Libya's civil war was dragging on indecisively. But they said the new moves may not be enough to tip the balance quickly.
ZUMA VISIT POSSIBLE
Diplomatic activity is also intensifying. G8 world powers will discuss ways to break the impasse this week, with some expecting Russia to propose a mediation plan to the meeting.
South African President Jacob Zuma also announced he would visit Tripoli next week for talks with Gaddafi.
"President Zuma will stop over in Tripoli for a discussion with Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi on the 30th of May in his capacity as a member of the African Union high-level panel for the resolution of the conflict in Libya," his office said in a statement.
The South African president headed an African Union mission to Tripoli in April but the bid to halt the civil war collapsed within hours.
While critics argue that NATO has overstepped its mandate, rebels have complained Western forces are not doing enough to break Gaddafi's army.
Gaddafi denies his forces target civilians and says rebels, who control the east of the oil-producing country, are criminals, religious extremists and members of al Qaeda.
The United States bolstered the credentials of the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council as a potential government-in-waiting on Tuesday when a U.S. envoy invited it to set up a representative office in Washington.
Unlike France, Italy and Qatar, the United States has not established formal diplomatic ties with the rebels.
Jordan said on Tuesday it recognized the rebel council as a legitimate representative of Libya's people and planned to open an office in Benghazi.
Libyan news agency Jana said targets hit by NATO on Tuesday included a Tripoli mosque called Nuri Bani, though this could not be independently verified.
A French newspaper reported that Gaddafi was tired of fighting a civil war under constant pressure from NATO bombs, and would step down if allowed to remain in his country.
France Soir, citing "reliable sources, close to Libyan power," said people in Gaddafi's entourage had been holding secret meetings with representatives from Western countries, including France, for weeks.
It said Gaddafi, traumatized by the death of a son and three grandchildren in a NATO raid, was tired of living as a hunted man and spent several hours a day watching Arabic news channels and surfing news on Arab, English and Italian web sites. In his public pronouncements, Gaddafi has vowed to fight to the death.
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