Strong explosions rocked Tripoli early yesterday as Muammar Qaddafi’s shaky regime called for a immediate ceasefire in Libya and rebels claimed control of a key oil refinery not far from the capital.
A slew of explosions were heard at about 1am in the heart of the seaside capital where Qaddafi’s residential complex is located, as well as in several areas in the west of the city.
On Thursday, central Tripoli and the eastern suburb of Tajura were targeted by NATO warplanes, according to witnesses.
Rebels have been seeking to sever Tripoli’s supply lines from Tunisia to the west and to Qaddafi’s hometown of Sirte in the east in a move they hope will cut off the capital, prompt defections and spark an uprising inside Tripoli.
Opposition forces said on Thursday they had seized the refinery in Zawiyah, a key source of fuel supplies to the capital and the last major barrier before they advance on Tripoli.
Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi hotly disputed the claim, saying the refinery was “without doubt” still in loyalists’ hands.
Mahmudi told journalists in Tripoli that “the time has arrived for an immediate ceasefire.”
“We are ready to begin a dialogue to put an end to the crisis immediately,” Mahmudi added, saying there had been “contact” in recent days to find a political solution in the near future.
A member of the rebels’ National Transitional Council (NTC), Wahid Bourchan, said that “discussions” and not negotiations took place this week between some embattled regime members and their rebel challengers in Tunisia.
Former French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin, meanwhile, told daily Le Parisien he had traveled to the Tunisian resort of Djerba for discussions with unnamed Libyan figures.
“I was indeed there, but I really can’t make any comment, as this might compromise the chances of these discussions being successful or useful,” he told the newspaper.
Mahmudi said no negotiations would touch on the fate of Qaddafi, while rebel leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil was quoted as renewing his side’s rejection of any talks that do not envisage the departure from power of the strongman and his sons.
Abdel Jalil was speaking in an interview published in pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, in which he said the rebel campaign to cut off Tripoli was proceeding apace and that he feared a “veritable bloodbath” in a battle for the capital.
“Qaddafi will not go quietly; he will go amid a catastrophe that will touch him and his family,” Jalil told the newspaper from his eastern bastion of Benghazi.
The Libyan leader, who has ruled the oil-rich North African nation for four decades, has consistently refused to step down and continues to rally his supporters to repel the enemy.
Abdel Jalil said he hoped to celebrate in Tripoli — a city of more than 1 million inhabitants — the feast of Eid al-Fitr, which will cap the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan at the end of this month.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from