Global General

Gadhafi rule coming to end: NATO

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-05-30 15:57

VARNA, Bulgaria - NATO's military campaign in Libya is achieving its goals and the rule of Muammar Gadhafi is coming to an end, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Monday.

Related readings:  NATO strikes 1 of Gadhafi's homes in Tripoli  G8: Gadhafi has lost all legitimacy  It is up to Gadhafi to decide enough is enough: NATO

"Our operation in Libya is achieving its objectives ... We have seriously degraded Gadhafi's ability to kill his own people", Rasmussen told a NATO forum in Varna.

"Gadhafi's reign of terror is coming to an end. He is increasingly isolated at home and abroad. Even those closest to him are departing, defecting or deserting."

Britain said on Sunday it was adding "bunker-busting" bombs to the weapons its warplanes are using over Libya, adding that this would send the Libyan leader the message that it was time for him to step down.

NATO warplanes have intensified their air strikes on Tripoli and have repeatedly hit Gadhafi's Bab al-Aziziyah compound in the centre of the city.

"We will keep up the pressure until all attacks and threats of attacks against civilians have stopped, until the regime has withdrawn its forces and mercenaries to bases and barracks," said Rasmussen.