Toddlers among 9 dead in NATO raid on Tripoli

Libyan officials showed reporters five bodies, two of them of toddlers, they said were among nine civilians killed in a "barbaric" NATO air raid today, as pressure mounted on the alliance to allow a political solution.

Government spokesperson Mussa Ibrahim accused the Western alliance of "deliberately targeting civilians," insisting there were no military targets anywhere near the residential neighbourhood of the capital that was hit.

NATO said it was looking into the Libyan claim.

Ibrahim demanded that the alliance end its "aggression" to pave the way for dialogue, speaking just hours after organisations including the the Arab League, the European Union and the United Nations highlighted the importance of "accelerating the launch of a political process" to end the conflict.

Journalists were taken to the Al-Arada district of Tripoli before 1 am (2300 GMT yesterday) to see rescue teams helped by bystanders desperately searching for survivors among the wreckage of a two-storey block of flats.

An AFP correspondent saw two bodies pulled from the rubble.

Journalists were then taken to a Tripoli hospital where they were shown the bodies of a woman and two toddlers that officials said were members of the same family and had died in the raid.

Ibrahim said that four passers-by were also killed, bringing the death toll to nine, and that 18 people were wounded.