The colonialist crusader Atlantic coalition bombed civilian sites, among them a bakery and a restaurant in Brega, creating 15 martyrs and more than 20 wounded, among them regular clients of those places.
NATO came under verbal fire again today from Muammar Gaddafi's regime, which accused it of killing 15 more people in strikes on civilian sites in the eastern city of Brega, a claim promptly denied by the alliance.
Meanwhile, in a likely propaganda coup against Gaddafi in Libya, 17 of the country's top players, including national goalkeeper Juma Gtat, have defected to rebels battling to oust him, the BBC reported.
"The colonialist crusader Atlantic coalition bombed civilian sites, among them a bakery and a restaurant in Brega, creating 15 martyrs and more than 20 wounded, among them regular clients of those places," the TV said.
The report, which did not say when the attack took place, referred to a NATO "war of extermination" and "crimes against humanity" in Libya.
However, state news agency Jana said the attack was today and spoke of five more "citizens" killed a day earlier.
Following the Libyan television claim, the NATO spokesperson said the alliance "did target buildings in an abandoned area of Brega. These were legitimate military targets that were hit.
"We took a long time to watch the area and make sure. Meticulous planning went into this."
As far as NATO is concerned, he said, "any people in that area at that time were legitimate military targets."
In its daily operations report, the alliance said that yesterday it had targeted 35 objectives, including military vehicles and installations, around Brega, a key refinery town some 800 kilometres east of Tripoli and 240 kilometres southwest of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Earlier this week, after NATO admitted misfires that Tripoli says caused several deaths, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called for a suspension in the campaign in the latest sign of dissent within NATO.
Alliance chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said more civilians would die if operations were not maintained under a UN mandate to protect Libyans from the exactions of the government of veteran leader Muammmar Gaddafi.
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