NATO air strikes, sinks eight warships of Dictator Gaddafi !

The NATO military alliance says it has sunk eight warships belonging to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces.

The ships were targeted in co-ordinated overnight attacks on the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, the alliance announced on Friday.

The deputy commander of the NATO mission in Libya said the air strikes were needed to protect civilians and NATO forces at sea.

Shelling was also heard in the Ghabat al-Qasr neighbourhood of the capital, Tripoli, in the early hours of Friday.

NATO, acting under a UN mandate, has been carrying out air strikes on Libya since Gaddafi used force to put down a revolt inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.

In some of the latest strikes, NATO hit Gaddafi's forces around 15km east of the opposition-held town of Zintan in the Western Mountains region. The town and the port city of Misurata have seen some of the heaviest fighting in recent weeks.

Source; Aljazeera.net