WASHINGTON: Dozens of US. warplanes carried out a massive bombing raid on airfields, government command posts and suspected terrorist training camps around the Libyan port cities of Tripoli and Benghazi Monday night to “preempt and discourage” terrorism, the White House announced.
The bombers, flying from air ‘craft carriers and U.S bases in Great Britain, triggered fiery explosions in both cities and ignited ‘what observers on the ground believed was a large fire at an oil storage facility outside Tripoli in the raid, which occurred at 2 a.m, Libyan time (4 p.m. PST).
Libyan radio reported that a number of relatives of Libyan leader Moammar Khadafy were injured in the air strike when bombs hit a residential compound, but Khadafy reportedly survived information director Ibrahim Seger said, “He’s okay, he’s okay,” Seger told the Associated Press in Tripoli. It was later reported that two of his sons were wounded in the attack.
Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said that one F111 bomber based in Britain was unaccounted for, and he speculated that the plane could have had mechanical trouble during the long trip back to Britain. As of early today morning, the Pentagon said it still had no word on the missing plane. There were no confirmed American casualties.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 18, 1986
