Bombs aweigh

Loud explosions and barrages of anti-aircraft fire were heard near the Tripoli compound of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi on Monday night, an AFP correspondent says. 

Air strike ... pro-Gaddafi troops are bombed by coalition forces on the road between Benghazi and Ajdabiya. Photo: Reuters

Loud explosions and barrages of anti-aircraft fire were heard near the Tripoli compound of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi on Monday night, an AFP correspondent says. The volleys erupted about 7.00pm GMT (6.00am AEDT) near the Bab el-Aziziya barracks in the south of Tripoli, the correspondent said. Libyan state television confirmed what it called the “crusader enemy” attacks. ”These attacks are not going to scare the Libyan people,” the TV broadcast said.

Similar explosions rocked the capital on Sunday night, with coalition officials on Monday saying an administrative building in Gaddafi’s fortified complex, about 50 metres from the tent where he generally meets guests, had been destroyed by a cruise missile. Britain, France and the US began launching strikes with aircraft and cruise missiles on targets in Libya late on Saturday in line with a UN Security Council resolution authorising any measures to stop Kadhafi harming civilians in a campaign by his forces to subdue an uprising.

US President Barack Obama said on Monday that Gaddafi must leave power, but stressed the United States would stick to the UN mandate in its military action in Libya. ”Our military action is in support of an international mandate from the Security Council that specifically focuses on the humanitarian threat posed by Colonel Gaddafi to his people,” Obama told a press conference. Obama said as part of the international coalition now enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya, he had “authorised the United States military to work with our international partners to fulfill that mandate”. ”Now, I also have stated that it is US policy that Gaddafi needs to go,” Obama added after talks in Santiago with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera.” source – The Age