UK, US and France pound Libya, Gaddafi vows retaliation

According to pentagon officials, the US and the UK have fired more than 110 Tomahawk missiles, while French planes hit pro-Gaddafi forces attacking Benghazi.

Addressing reporters at the Pentagon, Admiral William Gortney said cruise missiles struck more than 20 integrated air defence systems and other air defence facilities ashore.

Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi has now vowed retaliation and said he would open arms depots to his people to defend Libya.

In a brief audio message, Gaddafi condemned the attacks as a “barbaric, unjustified Crusaders’ aggression” and vowed retaliatory strikes on military and civilian targets in the Mediterranean. He added the Mediterranean has been turned into a “real battlefield”.

The state media said Western warplanes had bombed civilian targets in Tripoli, causing casualties while an army spokesman said strikes also hit fuel tanks feeding the rebel-held city of Misrata, east of Tripoli.

Even thought there was no independent confirmation of the deaths, Libyan state TV said 48 people had been killed and 150 wounded in the attacks.

The first shots from a French plane were fired yesterday late in the afternoon, destroying a number of military vehicles.