19 Jun 2011

NATO raid kills five civilians say Libyan officials

10:03 pm on 19 June 2011

Libya has accused NATO of killing at least five people in an air strike that hit a house in the capital Tripoli.

A three-storey house was badly damaged at the scene of the alleged raid in the Souk al-Juma residential district.

The BBC reports journalists were later shown five bodies at a Tripoli hospital.

NATO says it destroyed a surface-to-air missile site in northern Tripoli overnight and is investigating the Libyan claims.

The Alliance - which has been carrying out raids to protect Libyan civilians - has previously admitted to mistakenly hitting civilian targets.

The incident occurred just over 24 hours after the country's prime minister accused NATO of specifically targeting civilians in its campaign.

Libyan rebels hold a third of the country in the east and pockets in the west, including Misrata, although Tripoli remains under government control.

NATO has flown more than 10,000 sorties since operations began, including almost 4000 strike attacks against government targets across Libya.