Thaindian News

Tripoli, Apr 25 (ANI): A Libyan government press official has said NATO had tried to assassinate Colonel Muammar Gaddafi early Monday, destroying his multi-story library and office and badly damaging a reception hall for visiting dignitaries through airstrikes.

He also said that 45 people were injured, including 15 who were seriously hurt, and some were still unaccounted for after the attack, CBS News reports.

However, it is unclear whether Gaddafi was present at the Bab al-Azizya compound when the NATO airstrikes took place.

According to reports, around two to four large missiles or bombs exploded in the compound early Monday, badly damaging buildings where Gaddafi holds meetings.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague has indicated that American unmanned Predator drones, which have been used to take out al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan and Afghanistan, could be used to assassinate the Libyan dictator.

This indication came as the combat operations continue in the besieged Libyan city of Misrata despite assurances by the Gaddafi regime that it would move its forces out of the town

Over 50 people in the city were killed, and hundreds of others were injured, after Gaddafi’s forces fired cluster bombs, mortars and tank shells into safe civilian zones.

US President Barack Obama had given permission to use two Predators over the Libyan skies last week, and yesterday, U.S. senators Obama to authorise launching air strikes to kill Gaddafi, to ‘cut the head off the snake’.

Yesterday, the US military had confirmed that its first attack by an unmanned Predator drone aircraft had destroyed a Libyan government multiple rocket launcher near Misrata. (ANI)