TRIPOLI — NATO air raids shook Tripoli Thursday as the UN
denounced crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the conflict
between Muamar Gaddafi’s forces and rebels seeking to topple the strongman.

A Libyan woman shows a photograph of her son Louay Chouichi at her house in Misrata June 1, 2011. Louay, who was a rebel fighter, was killed on March 18 during a battle between Libyan rebel fighters and forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Misrata’s Tripoli street. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A series of six blasts at around 12:35 am local time were
followed by several more a few minutes later in the Libyan capital, the target
of intensive NATO air raids for the past weeks, an AFP correspondent reported.

NATO warplanes had carried out raids late Monday and Tuesday
on Tripoli, the suburb of Tajura and Al-Jafra, 370 miles to the south.

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said Tuesday that NATO
air raids on Libya had killed 718 civilians and wounded 4,067 since they were
unleashed on March 19 and up to May 26, but NATO said there was nothing to
verify the claim.

Libyan Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem meanwhile became the
latest member of Gaddafi’s regime to resign, saying in Italy that he had left
Libya to join the uprising against his former boss and “fight for a
democratic country.”

On the ground in Libya, a huge car bomb rocked a major hotel
Wednesday in Benghazi, the Libyan rebels’ capital in the east of the country,
but caused no casualties, witnesses and police said.

A commission of inquiry set up by the UN Human Rights
Council in Geneva accused Gaddafi’s regime of carrying out systematic attacks
on the population, saying that it committed not only crimes against humanity
but also war crimes.

While it found fewer reports of violations by the
opposition, the commission also said rebel forces committed acts that
constituted war crimes.

The commission has “reached the conclusion that crimes
against humanity and war crimes have been committed by the government forces of
Libya,” it said in a statement.

“The commission received fewer reports of facts which
would amount to the commission of international crimes by opposition forces,
however, it did find some acts which would constitute war crimes.”

The 47-member UN Human Rights Council set up the
investigation into suspected crimes against humanity in February after
Gaddafi’s regime dispatched Libya’s army and air force to fire on civilians.

NATO ambassadors meeting in Brussels on Wednesday decided to
renew the mission for another 90 days to late September, giving individual
nations time to prepare their contributions.

“This decision sends a clear message to the Gaddafi
regime. We are determined to continue our operation to protect the people of
Libya,” said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“We will keep up the pressure to see it through.”

NATO, whose current campaign expires on June 27, has
intensified its air raids in recent weeks with daily strikes on command and
control bunkers in Tripoli to prevent Gaddafi from crushing a revolt that began
in mid-February.

Oil minister Ghanem, the head of the state-run National Oil
Corporation (NOC), told journalists in Rome that he had joined the rebellion,
following weeks of rumors and denials about his defection.

“I can’t work in this situation so I have left my
country and my job to join the choice made by young Libyans to fight for a
democratic country,” he said as he spoke of a possible “peaceful
solution” to the conflict.

Libya’s longtime representative at the OPEC oil cartel said
his country was “moving towards a total block on oil production.”

Italy’s foreign ministry denied any role in arranging
Ghanem’s presence in the country but welcomed the announcement, after eight
Libyan military officers this week announced their defection at a press
conference in Rome.

NATO’S Rasmussen told reporters in Brussels that Gaddafi’s
departure is only a question of time.

“The question is not if Gaddafi will go but when,”
Rasmussen said. “It could take some time yet but it could also happen
tomorrow.”

At a news conference in Tripoli, however, Ibrahim warned the
departure of Libya’s veteran leader would be a “worst case scenario”
for the country and could trigger “civil war.”

“If Gaddafi goes, the security valve will
disappear,” he said.

Two cars were destroyed in the Benghazi explosion in the
parking lot of the Tibesti hotel used by rebel leaders, diplomats and
journalists, an AFP correspondent said.

The rebels’ National Transitional Council blamed the huge
car bomb blast on forces loyal to Gaddafi.

“This act of terrorism shows, once again, the
irresponsible and criminal nature of Gaddafi’s regime,” NTC chairman Abdul
Jalil said in a statement as he vowed to take “all measures” to bring
the perpetrators to justice.

A police officer said a bomb was detonated in one car and
the blast damaged a second car parked next to it. There were no immediate
reports of injuries.