NATO planes hit Tripoli targets

TRIPOLI, Libya, May 10 (UPI) -- NATO reported its warplanes bombed targets in the Libyan capital of Tripoli and loud blasts and gunfire were heard in the city Tuesday.

A NATO official said alliance aircraft hit three targets in Tripoli that were "identified as command and control facilities of the [Moammar] Gadhafi regime."

At least three rounds of explosions and gunfire boomed across the Libyan capital in a 3-hour span that began late Monday, CNN reported.

NATO leaders dismissed claims that fighting between troops loyal to Gadhafi and rebel forces seeking to end the strongman's 40-year rule devolved into a stalemate.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told CNN the military alliance was "making progress" and had "taken out" a substantial part of Gadhafi's military capability. Rasmussen said the conflict needed a political solution to be resolved, but "it's hard to imagine an end to the violence as long as Gadhafi remains in power."

He said Gadhafi and his regime "have no future" but wouldn't predict how long the Libyan leader could hold out, CNN said.

Libyan government officials took foreign reporters Monday night to facilities government officials said were damaged during one of NATO's attacks. The Financial Times said reporters weren't allowed to view one of the actual bomb sites on the tour.

Elsewhere, the International Committee of the Red Cross said an aid ship it chartered reached the port city of Misurata Tuesday. Misurata, the only city in western Libya held by rebel fighters, has endured two months of fighting and shelling.

The ship's cargo included medical supplies, parts to repair water and electrical supply systems and jars of baby food, the statement said.

During a U.N. Security Council meeting Monday, U.N. Undersecretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said the situation in Misurata "is at the forefront" of the organization's concern about the fate of Libya's civilian population, CNN reported.

"Some people are running short of food, water and other basics," she said. "Medical facilities need supplies and more trained personnel."