Libyans Offer Credible Case of Death by Airstrike

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: March 30, 2011

GHARYAN, Libya — Standing at the grave of an 18-month-old baby on Wednesday, officials of the Qaddafi government presented the first specific and credible case of a civilian death caused by Western airstrikes.

Moises Saman for The New York Times

Men carrying a photo of a 21-year-old soldier, Mondher el-Mahdi el-Daas, at his funeral in the town of Azizea near Tripoli.

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But relatives speaking a few yards away said they blamed Col.Muammar el-Qaddafi and welcomed the bombs.

“No, no, no, this is not from NATO,” one relative said, speaking quietly and on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The Western planes had struck an ammunition depot at a military base nearby, he said, and the explosion had sent a tank shell flying into the bedroom of the baby, a boy, in a civilian’s home. “What NATO is doing is good,” he said, referring to the Western military alliance that is enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya.

The testimony of the boy’s parents, a hole in the wall, damage to the house, quietly grieving family members, and a baby-sized and freshly covered grave appeared to confirm the relative’s account of the death.

That made the baby, Siraj Najib Mohamed Suessi, the first specific and credible civilian death from the airstrikes that the Qaddafi government has presented in 10 days of official statements decrying what they say are widespread casualties.

The Qaddafi government’s press office drove journalists 70 miles to this mountain town south of Tripoli to get to it. But as government minders directed journalists to the house and the grave, several residents approached foreign correspondents to tell them surreptitiously of their hatred of Colonel Qaddafi.

“He is not a man. He is Dracula,” one said. “For 42 years, it has been dark. Anyone who speaks, he kills. But everyone here wants Qaddafi to go.”

The town presented none of the theatrical displays of support for Colonel Qaddafi that usually greet official tours. There were no green flags, Qaddafi posters or chanting crowds, and residents were notably cool to the official tour escorts.

The difference might have reflected the character of the town, which was once a center of resistance to the Italian occupation. It might also have reflected the emboldened mood of those critical of Colonel Qaddafi as the airstrikes cut into his military strength.

An earlier visit to the funeral of a 21-year-old soldier, Mondher el-Mahdi el-Daas, in the town of Azizea near Tripoli, unfolded differently as well. On most official trips, a warning honk from a government bus cues a prepared crowd of Qaddafi supporters to start waiving green flags and chanting “God, Muammar, Libya, and that’s it.”

In Azizea, the sounds of Kalashnikovs firing into the air greeted the bus even before the honk. The small crowd was unusually well armed, with many in civilian clothes carrying machine guns and one man carrying two — the latest evidence of the Qaddafi government’s distribution of weapons throughout parts of the civilian population.

And instead of chanting only for Qaddafi, the crowd in Azizea began chanting for the local tribal group, the Warshafana, and repeatedly reverted back to it. “Warshafana, Warshafana, we will punch the nose of our enemy,” one chant declared.

Speaking through official translators, several said they were proud of their neighbor, saying he had died fighting rebels near the Qaddafi stronghold of Surt. No unmonitored conversations could be arranged.

In Gharyan, however, some said they were sure that Colonel Qaddafi’s four decades in power would soon end. One man gave a journalist a phone number for use only after the colonel’s ouster, when his secret police would not be tapping phones.

But no one could explain how they envisioned forcing Colonel Qaddafi from power, given that the rebels appear incapable of defeating his militia and the Western powers have said they would not use military power to oust him directly.