NATO Strikes Tripoli

CNN reports

A barrage of at least 18 rockets struck Tripoli Tuesday, killing 19 people and wounding another 150 in the heaviest onslaught since NATO's aerial strikes began, a government official told CNN.

Six thunderous explosions rocked the center of Tripoli late Tuesday. A hotel for international journalists located within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's compound shook during the attacks. Outbursts of gunfire, as well as ambulance sirens, could be heard in the streets.

A Libyan government official said initial information indicated that the night-time strikes hit the same compound that had been hit earlier in the day -- the volunteer element of the army compound.

During the attacks in the capital, a U.S envoy in the eastern rebel-held city of Benghazi was courting members of the transitional government.

Jeffery Feltman, the U.S assistant secretary of state for near Eastern affairs, told reporters in Benghazi that he had invited the National Transitional Council to open a representative office in Washington -- and that the council has accepted.

Feltman added that he had come to reiterate a message from President Barack Obama that "Gadhafi has lost legitimacy to rule. He cannot regain control of Libya. And he must step down immediately."