Wing Commander Mike Bracken says that Nato is investigating the incident
Nato admits Tripoli target error
Nato has admitted “a weapons systems failure” may have led to civilian casualties in Sunday morning’s air strike in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
In a statement, the alliance said the intended target of the strike was a military missile site, but “it appears that one weapon” did not hit it.
The Libyan government earlier said Nato bombed a residential area, killing nine civilians, including babies.
Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to defend Libyans from pro-Gaddafi forces.
“Nato regrets the loss of innocent civilian lives and takes great care in conducting strikes against a regime determined to use violence against its own citizens,” said Lt Gen Charles Bouchard, commander of operation Unified Protector.
“One shell whistled above us and smashed into an orchard perhaps 100m away”
Andrew Harding“Although we are still determining the specifics of this event, indications are that a weapons system failure may have caused this incident,” he added.
The statement said that more than 11,500 sorties had already been conducted and “every mission is planned and executed with tremendous care to avoid civilian casualties”.
Nato later released a video statement.
Our correspondent says the incident could prompt questions about what Nato is achieving in Libya – not least by Nato members who never agreed with the operation.
Sunday’s attack, in one of Tripoli’s poorer neighbourhoods, happened shortly after midnight, Libyan officials say.
They say that nine people were killed, including two babies, and another 18 people injured. It is not possible to verify this claim independently.
The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen, who was taken to the site by government officials, saw two bodies being removed from the rubble.
Scores of men were working alongside the emergency services, pulling at sections of rubble and looking for bodies.
Our correspondent was then taken to a Tripoli hospital where he was shown the bodies of two men, a woman and two babies, who government officials said had been killed in the strike.
Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said the incident represented a “deliberate targeting of civilian houses”.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said Nato had deliberately targeted civilian houses Nato spokesman Wing Cdr Mike Bracken earlier told the BBC he did not know the exact location of the building Libyans accuse the alliance of hitting.
The building is about a kilometre away from a military airfield, which has often been targeted by Nato.
“Those areas that might have been claimed to be residential by the Gaddafi regime in the past have turned out to be being used as C2 nodes [command and control centres],” said Wing Cdr Bracken.
The incident came shortly after Nato “regretted any possible loss of life” from an accidental air strike on a rebel column near the oil refinery town of Brega on Thursday.
A rebel spokesman said it was to Nato’s credit that it had admitted that mistake, which he said was understandable given the rapidly shifting front lines of the conflict.
It would be regrettable if civilians had been killed by a Nato air strike in Tripoli, he added, but praised the alliance’s overall accuracy record throughout the campaign.
Nato’s mission – to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians using “all necessary measures” short of a ground invasion – began in March in response to Col Muammar Gaddafi’s violent response to a popular uprising.
The intervention was mandated by the UN, and led by France, Britain and the US until the end of March, when Nato took over.
Having initially been given 90 days – which would have run out on 27 June – the mission has been extended for a further 90 days.
Libyan rebels hold a third of the country in the east and pockets in the west, including Misrata, although Tripoli remains under government control.
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