NATO has admitted civilian deaths during an air strike against Tripoli, a report said on Sunday. The air strike was carried out “in celebration of” 90 days of the alliance’s operation in Libya.

NATO has acknowledged civilian deaths in Libya for the first time since it launched an air operation against the country three months ago. A total of nine civilians were killed and 18 were injured during a raid on Saturday night. A family of five was buried under the rubble.

According to the coalition command, the missile fired at the wrong target due to a glitch in the tracking system. The target was a ground-to-air warehouse. Gaddafi-controlled sources report that as at the end of last week, 856 people died in coalition air strikes. NATO command denies the reports, brandishing a detailed “picture” supplied by drones and combat helicopters.

Andei Volodin, Director of the Oriental Research Center, describes the Libya operation as a fiasco:

“As regards Libya, the campaign has proved utterly abortive. The NATO command never thought that it would last that long with zero results.”

The “celebration” of three-months-long bombardments of Libya over the weekend was clouded by NATO’s so-called “friendly strikes” at the rebels which killed 16 people. A rebel convoy near Brega came under attack having been mistaken for Gaddafi troops. Russia’s former Ambassador to Libya Alexei Podtseraba has this opinion:

“There is clear evidence of the West’s failure in Libya. If NATO launches a ground operation, it will openly breach the UN Security Council resolution. A failure in Libya will leave NATO with two options – either to acknowledge defeat or ramp up its military presence. Given the circumstances, Russia’s current mediation attempts are more than welcome and could prove instrumental in reaching a settlement.”

The African Union and China are ready for mediatory missions too. Libyan opposition leader Mahmoud Jibril is arriving in Beijing on Tuesday. And earlier this month, Chinese diplomats met with other opposition leaders in Qatar. These meetings aim to negotiate a ceasefire and start talks. The rebel finance minister Ali Tarhuni had to admit that rebel forces have run out of funds to pursue the war with Muammar Gaddafi. The Al Arabiya Channel reports serious differences within NATO as a number of NATO countries say they have been drained by the war and the US accuses European allies of doing a bad job in Libya.