Nato missiles hit gaddafi compound

Explosions thundered across the Libyan capital early on Thursday and wailing ambulances raced through the city as the last missile exploded. Government officials and state-run Libyan

television said the strikes targeted Bab al-Azaziya, Gaddafi's compound. At the nearby Khadra Hospital, medics wheeled in the bodies of two men they said were killed in the shelling.

Staff said there were more deaths within the compound. Gaddafi's compound has frequently been targeted by air attacks including one on April 30 that killed his son, Seif al-Arab.

Officials said the Libyan leader was in the compound when that strike occurred but he escaped unharmed. In an apparent effort to dispel rumours that Gaddafi himself had been killed, Libyan

state TV showed him meeting tribal leaders and to authenticate the scene, the camera zoomed in on the date on a TV monitor in the room, which read Wednesday May 11. Intensified strikes on

Gaddafi's forces across Libya have given a boost to rebels, with the opposition claiming that it had captured the airport in the western city of Misrata. Government spokesman Moussa

Ibrahim denied the Misrata rebels' claims of success, insisting: "This is nonsense." We control the airport and we also control the sea port." Meanwhile, Italy's

foreign minister said that he expects the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Gaddafi at the end of the month. Franco Frattini said that would be a "key

moment" in the Libya crisis, suggesting that after the warrant is issued it would be impossible for Colonel Gaddafi to agree to an exile.