Britain deploys top diplomat, helicopters to Libya

BENGHAZI—British Foreign Minister William Hague flew to Benghazi on Saturday to meet rebels fighting to oust Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi after NATO deployed attack choppers for the first time.

Russia’s top diplomat, meanwhile, warned that the NATO military operation in Libya was “sliding towards” a land campaign as warplanes again blasted the capital Tripoli.

“We are here today for one principal reason — to show our support for the Libyan people and for the National Transitional Council, the legitimate representative of the Libyan people,” Hague said in a statement.

Hague, accompanied by international development minister Andrew Mitchell, was to meet Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chief of the rebel National Transitional Council, Britain’s Foreign Office said.

Hague’s trip to the rebel capital of Benghazi came just hours after British Apache helicopters attacked forces loyal to Gadhafi in their first operations as part of the NATO air campaign against the veteran strongman.

“Britain remains a strong and true friend of Libya,” Hague said.

“We could not and did not turn a blind eye when Gadhafi turned his forces against innocent civilians. For as long as Gadhafi continues to abuse his people, we will continue and intensify our efforts to stop him.”

British Apache choppers and French Gazelles and Tigres were deployed, the two countries said earlier.

The British defence ministry said Apache helicopters had on Friday night attacked a radar station and a checkpoint operated by Gadhafi’s forces in the strategic oil town of Brega, in eastern Libya.

A spokesman for France’s military chiefs, Thierry Brukhard, said the copters destroyed about 20 targets and drew light arms fire from forces on the ground but were not damaged.

In its latest operational update released on Saturday, NATO said it had hit a military camp and three command and control nodes in and around Brega, 240 kilometers (150 miles) southwest of rebel-held Benghazi.

“Attack helicopters under NATO command were used for the first time,” the military alliance said in a statement that listed vehicles, military equipment and fielded forces as the targets struck.

The attacks were launched as part of the aerial campaign to protect Libyan civilians from Gadhafi’s forces in line with a UN resolution that barred ground troops.

“We welcome any action that could precipitate the end of (Moammar) Gadhafi’s regime,” Jalil told reporters in Benghazi.

Moscow, which is calling for a negotiated solution to the conflict, expressed alarm as the NATO campaign entered a new phase.

“We consider that what is going on is either consciously or unconsciously sliding towards a land operation,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

“That would be very deplorable,” Lavrov, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency, added in reference to France and Britain’s decision to send military helicopters to Libya.

NATO warplanes, meanwhile, launched intensive air raids on Tripoli and its eastern suburbs on Saturday, where several explosions were heard, an AFP reporter and witnesses said.

Two powerful but distant blasts were felt in the centre of the Libyan capital at around 6:30pm (1630 GMT), followed by several others a few minutes later.

Witnesses said the explosions came from Tajura, a suburb which has often been targeted by NATO since the start of its campaign to stop Gadhafi from attacking civilians.

Residents of Tajura, most of whom support the rebels, said they were not sure what the raids had targeted but that they could see plumes of black smoke and said aircraft were still circling over the area.

Back in Benghazi, Libyan rebels said they are caring for the woman allegedly raped by soldiers loyal to Gadhafi and who fled to Qatar but was deported back to Benghazi earlier this week.