Libya Plane Hits Town, Over One Million Need Aid

[Purveyor]

RAS LANUF, Libya (Reuters) - Government forces seeking to dislodge rebels from Libya's strategically important coast struck at an oil town on Monday amid quickening efforts to prevent more humanitarian suffering and a mass refugee exodus.

The United Nations said more than one million people fleeing Libya and inside the country needed humanitarian aid, and conditions in rebel-held Misrata town were particularly worrying following attacks on it by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

Offering a potential olive branch to rebels seeking to end Gaddafi's long rule, one of his associates appealed to opposition chiefs for dialogue, in a sign the aging autocrat may be ready to compromise with the unprecedented revolt.

The offer, rapidly dismissed by rebels, coincided with a renewed publicity drive by Gaddafi that warned European nations to the north of the Mediterranean that if he fell "you will have immigration, thousands of people from Libya will invade Europe."

A warplane launched an air strike on the eastern outskirts of the rebel-held oil terminal town of Ras Lanuf 600 km (400 miles) east of the capital Tripoli on Monday, witnesses said.

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/07/libya-plane-hits-town-over-one-million-need-aid/