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Coalition forces ’strike Gaddafi’s home town’ - Libyan state TV

27 March 2011 05:03 (UTC +04:00)

Both military and civil facilities came under attack, the Al Jamahiriya TV channel said.

On Saturday, Libyan rebels backed by allied airstrikes retook Ajdabiya, a strategic oil town about 60 miles to the south of their main stronghold of Benghazi, from Gaddafi loyalists. Libya’s Jana national news agency quoted a military source as saying the coalition’s airstrikes eliminated almost all the tanks of Gaddafi’s forces in Ajdabiya, leaving them no chance for defense.

French aircraft attacked on Saturday an air base outside a key rebel-held town of Misrata, about 120 miles east of Tripoli, destroying five Libyan warplanes and two helicopters.

Libyan military officials have said the international coalition’s warplanes attack both military and civilians targets in Libya to pave the rebels’ way to oil facilities, suggesting that the allies coordinate their actions with the rebels.

The UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, also permitting "all necessary measures" to protect civilians from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns.

The operation to enforce the no-fly zone, codenamed Odyssey Dawn, is being conducted jointly by 13 states, including the United States, Britain and France. Libyan state media outlets have reported that dozens of people have been killed by the airstrikes.