Saturday, March 19, 2011

West pounds Libya with air strikes, Tomahawks | The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online

TRIPOLI (AFP) – French air raids and US Tomahawk missiles pounded targets in Libya on Saturday, in an international campaign to prevent Moamer Kadhafi from crushing a month-old uprising against his rule.

A US warship fired Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya, targeting Kadhafi's air defense sites, a senior US military official said.

Two days after a UN Security Council resolution authorized military action, French planes carried out an initial four air strikes, destroying several armoured vehicles of Kadhafi's forces, the French military said.

Libyan media said Western warplanes bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing casualties, shortly after France's launch of the multinational air campaign against Kadhafi.

State television said hundreds of people had gathered at Bab al-Aziziyah, Kadhafi's Tripoli headquarters, and at the capital's international airport, ahead of the widely anticipated air strikes.

"Crowds are forming around the targets identified by France," the television reported, showing pictures of flag-waving people gathering to serve as human shields.

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