Reply #49: British Ministry of Defence defends bombing of a Tripoli research centre Sunday

[pinboy3niner]

Libya: the Ministry of Defence has defended the bombing of a Tripoli research centre which Tornado and Typhoon aircraft destroyed on Sunday.

In an operational update MoD spokesman Major General Nick Pope, said the central organisation for economic research (COER), was a key intelligence building for Gaddafi's forces.

Ostensibly an engineering academy, the COER has in reality long been a cover for the regime's nefarious activities. Up until Colonel Gaddafi's renunciation of weapons of mass destruction in 2003, the COER was responsible for his long-range missile development programme. Intensive surveillance by Nato over the past weeks revealed that the building was still being actively used by his security apparatus to repress the civilian population, and was thus a wholly legitimate target.

RAF planes were also involved in bombing on Sunday in the Nafusa mountains. The latest Nato update on target hit have been added to the Guardian's daily interactive guide to the Libya bombing campaign.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jul/25/syria-libya-middle-east-unrest-live#block-7