NATO airstrikes kill 16 civilians in Libya

NATO warplanes have dropped bombs on a civilian center in the key Libyan city of Brega, killing at least 16 people and wounding 40 others.

Libyan state television announced on Friday that the air raid targeted a guest house in the city.

Residents say most of the victims were Muslim clerics who had gathered there for a religious ceremony.

“They were a group of Muslim sheikhs (religious leaders) were holding a religious ceremony in the area of a Brega,” witnesses said.

Medics say the death toll is expected to rise as some of the seriously injured are said to be in critical condition.

NATO has not confirmed the report yet.

Brega is reportedly controlled by forces loyal to longtime Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

Many civilians have reportedly been killed since the Western-led war on Libya began last month.

This comes after the UN mandated the alliance to enforce a no-fly zone on Libya to protect civilian lives.

NATO has already been under criticism from Libyan opposition forces for not doing enough to protect civilians.

The head of the opposition’s armed forces Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis told reporters in Benghazi last month that NATO’s inaction has allowed government troops to advance and kill people in Misratah and other cities.

Younis has threatened to ask the United Nations Security Council to suspend the NATO mission in Libya if the military alliance does not do “its work properly.”

He also slammed Western-led forces over the civilian death toll caused by NATO’s bombing campaign in the country.

Critics, however, accuse the West of hypocrisy over the offensive on Libya, along with its silence towards the brutal crackdowns on similar anti-regime movements elsewhere in the Arab world, such as in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.