Blasts rock Tripoli, NATO targets Gaddafi compound

[xchrom]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/07/24/uk-libya-idUKTRE76K3TR20110724

(Reuters) - Explosions rocked central Tripoli for the second night in a row and Britain said weeks of NATO bombardment had inflicted extensive damage on Muammar Gaddafi's heavily-fortified compound.

Libya's leader is clinging to power despite a four-month-old NATO air campaign and a lengthening conflict with rebels seeking an end to his 41-year rule and who have seized large swathes of the North African country.

The explosions hit Tripoli at about 1 a.m. on Sunday, a day after NATO launched strikes on what it said was a military command site in Tripoli.

Major General Nick Pope, the Chief of the Defence Staff's communications officer, said Royal Air Force aircraft struck the high perimeter walls of Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah complex.