New explosions rock Libyan capital, other areas

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Several explosions rattled Tripoli Thursday morning as Libyan state television reported bombardments in Sirte, east of Tripoli, and other areas.
A Russian envoy due to arrive in Libya Thursday raised the possibility of leader Moammar Gadhafi giving up power but remaining in the country.

"There is a possible option where Gadhafi continues living in Libya as a private individual with his people and his tribe but relinquishes power and his family stays away from taking economic decisions," Mikhail Margelov said, according to the country's Itar-Tass news agency.

Margelov said last week that the rebel Transitional National Council did not need "Gadhafi's head, and no one is going to scalp him and nail it to the wall in his office," the agency reported.
Margelov is due to meet top Libyan officials, he said before leaving Moscow, but it is not clear that Gadhafi will be among them.

He has already talked to the opposition in Benghazi, the de facto rebel capital, and consulted with Ahmed Gaddafi al-Dam, a cousin of Gadhafi's, in Cairo, he said.

His mission to Tripoli comes as critics have questioned NATO's involvement in the civil war.
U.S. lawmakers filed a suit Wednesday that challenges the nation's participation in the Libya mission.
The lawmakers have accused President Barack Obama of failing to consult with Congress over the military effort in the North African country.

The White House denied that accusation, saying Obama has not violated the War Powers Resolution by intervening militarily for more than 60 days without seeking approval from Congress.
South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday slammed the international coalition's operation in the battle.
NATO started airstrikes in Libya in March to enforce a U.N. resolution to protect civilians from forces loyal to ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

But Zuma said actions by the international coalition have exceeded the authority that the resolution granted.
"We strongly believe that the resolution is being abused for regime change, political assassinations and foreign military occupation," Zuma said at a budget vote debate before the National Assembly in Cape Town on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, rebel forces said they have made progress in recent days in the fight against Ghadafi forces.
Rebels have taken control of the mountainous Jebel Nafusa region, which is southwest of Tripoli, said Ahmed Bani, an officer with the rebel forces.

Rebels have also made gains in the western city of Zlitan, Bani said.

NATO: Time to plan for post-Gadhafi Libya

(CNN) -- It is time to start planning for what to do in Libya after leader Moammar Gadhafi's departure "because Gadhafi's reign of terror is coming to an end," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday.

Rasmussen, talking with reporters in Brussels, insisted that NATO bombing had saved lives in Libya.
Pressed by reporters on why airstrikes will be able to dislodge Gadhafi when "the history of the last 30 years" shows that air attacks alone do not win wars, Rasmussen offered no clear answer, saying only, "We have no intentions to put troops on the ground."

He said the alliance had agreed to extend its military mission for another 90 days past the end of June and had the resources it needed to keep up the campaign for that long.

But he refused to predict how long it would take, saying: "We will keep up the pressure for as long as it takes to bring this crisis to an early conclusion."
Gadhafi vowed Tuesday that "we will not surrender," even as NATO airstrikes bombarded his compound in Tripoli.
"I am now speaking as planes and bombs fall around me," Gadhafi said in a live audio broadcast on state television. "But my soul is in God's hand. We will not think about death or life. We will think about the call of duty."

At least three explosions rocked Tripoli late Tuesday night; it was not immediately clear what they hit.
Earlier in the day, NATO targeted a military base and Gadhafi's compound, state television reported. A spokesman for the Libyan government said that at least 31 people were killed, including a number of civilians, and dozens more were wounded after 60 missiles struck the capital city.

Rasmussen reiterated Wednesday that the alliance was doing all it could to avoid civilian casualties.
The Gadhafi compound was under "intensive continuous bombardment," according to state TV, which reported buildings and infrastructure were destroyed.

The blasts Tuesday, and others Monday that Libyan officials said hit state television buildings, elicited heated responses from the government spokesman.
"We believe NATO understands that its military campaign is failing miserably," said spokesman Musa Ibrahim. "No one has the right to shape Libya's future except for Libyans."
Ibrahim said Tuesday's morning blasts hit the popular guard compound and revolution compound, which are military barracks near Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound.

The spokesman said the attack on the television network killed two people and wounded 16.
NATO disputed the account.

"We did not target or hit the Libyan broadcast facilities. What we did target was the military intelligence headquarters in downtown Tripoli," the alliance said. "The story coming from Libyan officials that we targeted and hit the state broadcaster's building is bogus."
The back and forth between Libyan officials and NATO continues a public relations war between the two sides. Libyan officials have continually charged that NATO airstrikes have damaged civilian facilities and killed hundreds of civilians.

This week, the Libyan government said it had evidence that alliance airstrikes were harming civilians.
Officials took journalists to Tajura, a city east of Tripoli, to show them a small crater that held what appeared to be the remains of a rocket.

The reporters were also taken to nearby homes that the government said had been damaged by airstrikes.
NATO said it had been active in the area hitting military sites but could not say whether the attacks had caused the damage in the residential area.

Reporters were also taken to a nearby hospital to see Nasib, a comatose baby who was a victim of the airstrikes, the government said.

A woman, who the government said was Nasib's mother, cried over the child's listless body.
Journalists were not allowed to talk to the woman or to the doctors. But one doctor quietly slipped a note to one of the journalists that said the girl was injured in a car accident, not a bomb attack.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague, speaking Tuesday to British lawmakers, said the European Union has added six additional ports controlled by pro-Gadhafi forces to its sanctions list in an effort to starve Gadhafi's troops of military supplies.

He said the United Kingdom intends to push for additional sanctions against Gadhafi's regime.

"Any political settlement in Libya requires an end to violence and Gadhafi's departure," Hague said.

Fresh strikes in Libya as Zuma says Gadhafi is ready for cease-fire

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Fresh explosions rang out early Tuesday near Tripoli, hours after South African President Jacob Zuma held talks with Moammar Gadhafi and signalled he was ready to accept an African Union plan for a cease-fire.

Around 12:45 a.m. Tuesday, a pair of large blasts were heard about five minutes apart, as jets flew over the capital of Tripoli.

A Libyan government official said the first strike hit Abu Sita, a former military turned construction site about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the city center. There was no immediate indication of where the second explosion occurred. Nor was there an immediate response from NATO, which has conducted regular strikes as part of its stated mission to halt Libyan leader Gadhafi's forces from killing innocent civilians.

Hours before the blasts, Zuma emerged from a meeting with the longtime Libyan strongman convinced that Gadhafi was ready for an end to hostilities, including such airstrikes and the ongoing fight with the Benghazi-based opposition movement. But he gave no indication that Gadhafi was prepared to step aside, as rebel leaders have insisted is their primary demand.

"Brother leader took the position today that he is ready to implement the decision of the AU (that) there must be a cease-fire," Zuma told a scrum of reporters on the tarmac at Tripoli's Mitiga International Airport before boarding a jet. "The view is that that must include -- bombing by NATO must also come to an end," he said in the news conference, which was broadcast on Libyan state television.

Zuma added that Gadhafi said any cease-fire must apply to all parties, "but also, he makes the point that: Let the Libyan people be given a chance to talk among themselves. And therefore, he's ready to implement the road map of the AU."

Unlike some other world leaders, Zuma has not called for the longtime Libyan leader to step down. Neither has Zuma's African National Congress party nor the African Union, which he was representing and which Gadhafi once led. In fact, the AU has criticized the NATO airstrikes.

In April, Zuma led an AU delegation to Tripoli, where hopes were raised briefly when it was announced that Gadhafi had agreed, in principle, to the African Union's "road map" proposal for peace. But Gadhafi continued his attacks and the Libyan opposition rejected the proposal because it did not meet its demand that he give up the power he has held for 42 years.

A government official said Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi also attended Monday's meeting. Baghdadi greeted Zuma upon his arrival at the airport, where dozens of Gadhafi supporters carried posters, some of which said, "May the leader be victorious" and "Thanks for great Africa."
The African Union has helped mediate peace talks before, including ones in Kenya and Zimbabwe that left the ruling powers in control.

It was not clear whether Zuma used the opportunity to press Gadhafi for information on the whereabouts of South African freelance photographer Anton Hammerl. Hammerl has been missing in Libya since April and is believed dead. South Africa has said it got assurances from Libya that the journalist was alive. But a Libyan government spokesman has said his whereabouts were unknown. "We never had him with us at any stage," spokesman Musa Ibrahim has said.

The meeting came as Gadhafi's grip on power appeared to continue to loosen. Eight generals from his army have defected to Italy, the Italian Foreign Ministry told CNN Monday. The generals were accompanied by more than 100 Libyan soldiers, a senior Italian official with firsthand knowledge of, and responsibility for, the operation said.

An exit strategy for Moammar Gadhafi

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma is reportedly to travel to Libya to discuss an exit strategy for Moammar Gadhafi