A local ambulance driver named Osama Mahmoud showed reporters around the bombed out town of Zliten in Western Libya Monday morning. An overnight attack, Mahmoud claimed, destroyed the town's hospital, wrecked several food warehouses and killed seven. "In this whole area there is no military," Mahmoud told the Associated Press. British forces did bomb an intelligence buildings in Tripoli early Monday, but NATO refused to comment on the other strikes until Tuesday. Major General Nick Pope did confirm in a statement that NATO forces successfully carried out an assault on staging posts near Zlitan on Sunday, a fact that somewhat jumbles Mahmoud's claim that no military is near that town.

According to some reports, the alleged hospital bombing is an attempt by President Muammar Qaddafi's regime to spread rumors of NATO attacks on civilian posts. Though a group of foreign journalists saw the wreckage in Zlitan on Monday, they also reported damage on buildings that appeared to belong to the government. Reuters reports that the bombings near Zlitan were two ammunition storage facilities and two command centers.

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Adam Clark Estes