NATO aircraft destroyed guard towers at Moammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli, a NATO official said on Saturday, then staged a rare daytime air strike on the Libyan capital, stepping up pressure on him to quit.
"RAF Typhoons, along with other NATO aircraft, last night used precision-guided weapons to bring down guard towers along the walls of Colonel Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah complex in the centre of Tripoli," Major General John Lorimer, chief British military spokesman, said in a statement.
NATO followed its fifth straight night of attacks with a daytime strike that sent smoke skywards from the area of the Gadhafi compound. A NATO military spokesman said the daylight raid targeted "a vehicle storage compound 600 to 800 metres to the east of Gaddafi's socalled 'tent private area.' It is not part of the main Gadhafi complex."
Following the Friday night strikes, the Libyan state broadcaster said NATO raids also caused "human and material" damage near Mizda, to the south.
Russia joined Western leaders on Friday in urging Gadhafi to step down and offered to mediate his departure, providing an important boost to NATO powers seeking to end his long rule.
Ahmed Hassan, a rebel spokesman in Misrata, reported a major battle on Saturday in Tawargha, 50 kilometres east of Misrata. "Rebels have managed to seize many weapons. We have put our hands on a small hospital which was full of weapons including tanks," he said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Saturday he will ask Parliament to extend the mission in Libya.
Harper told the CBC that he hopes to obtain unanimous consent to extend the mission when debate begins on Libya in the House of Commons next month. This extension will not be indefinite, he added.
"The government is going to ask for a reasonable extension and to continue parliamentary monitoring," he said in an interview during the G8 summit in Deauville, France. Reuters
"RAF Typhoons, along with other NATO aircraft, last night used precision-guided weapons to bring down guard towers along the walls of Colonel Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziyah complex in the centre of Tripoli," Major General John Lorimer, chief British military spokesman, said in a statement.
NATO followed its fifth straight night of attacks with a daytime strike that sent smoke skywards from the area of the Gadhafi compound. A NATO military spokesman said the daylight raid targeted "a vehicle storage compound 600 to 800 metres to the east of Gaddafi's socalled 'tent private area.' It is not part of the main Gadhafi complex."
Following the Friday night strikes, the Libyan state broadcaster said NATO raids also caused "human and material" damage near Mizda, to the south.
Russia joined Western leaders on Friday in urging Gadhafi to step down and offered to mediate his departure, providing an important boost to NATO powers seeking to end his long rule.
Ahmed Hassan, a rebel spokesman in Misrata, reported a major battle on Saturday in Tawargha, 50 kilometres east of Misrata. "Rebels have managed to seize many weapons. We have put our hands on a small hospital which was full of weapons including tanks," he said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Saturday he will ask Parliament to extend the mission in Libya.
Harper told the CBC that he hopes to obtain unanimous consent to extend the mission when debate begins on Libya in the House of Commons next month. This extension will not be indefinite, he added.
"The government is going to ask for a reasonable extension and to continue parliamentary monitoring," he said in an interview during the G8 summit in Deauville, France. Reuters
