From Slobodan Lekic, the AP:  Attorneys have filed a civil lawsuit in Belgium accusing NATO of killing 13 civilians, including 3 children, by bombing a residential compound of a former government official in Libya.

Marcel Ceccaldi, a Paris-based lawyer, said Thursday he also has asked the Brussels District Court to send two experts to Libya to assess physical and psychological damage from the attack near Tripoli in June so that he can determine what monetary compensation to seek from NATO.

The military alliance is based in Brussels, and its spokeswoman, Carmen Romero, said Thursday that all NATO air strikes in Libya are aimed at military targets and that great care is taken to avoid civilian casualties. Western air forces have been bombing Libya for nearly 5 months but have failed to dislodge Moammar Gadhafi’s regime. . . .

Ceccaldi and Belgian lawyer Ghislain Dubois are representing Khalid el Hamidi, a retired Libyan general and member of the government’s Revolutionary Council whose home was destroyed by two bombs on June 20 at 2:30 a.m. The explosions demolished the two houses in a compound in the town of Surman, 70 kilometers (45 miles) west of Tripoli. Thirteen people died, including three children, Hamidi’s relatives and household help.  (photo: French Ministry of Defense/Reuters)

Image: reuters%20French%20MoD%206%204%2011%20Helicopter%20attack%20Libya.jpg