Huge blasts rock Tripoli as allied forces fire more missiles onto Gaddafi's military

The blasts, on the eighth day of a Western bombing campaign to halt attacks by Gaddafi's forces on civilians, left a radar facility in flames in Tajura, home to several military bases.

US officials said the relentless pressure on Gaddafi and his allies was beginning to take its toll, and that the veteran Libyan leader was arming volunteers.

"We've received reports today that he has taken to arming what he calls volunteers to fight the opposition," said US Vice Admiral William Gortney.

Until now, Gaddafi is believed to have relied on militias run by his sons as well as African mercenaries to fight poorly-armed but determined opposition forces.

Gaddafi "has virtually no air defence left to him and a diminishing ability to command and sustain his forces on the ground", said Gortney following the UN-mandated air strikes launched on March 19 by the United States, Britain, and France.

"His air force cannot fly, his warships are staying in port, his ammunitions stores are being destroyed, communications towers are being toppled, his command bunkers rendered useless," Gortney said.

Western forces also pounded several key cities and towns overnight, including Ajdabiya, where regime loyalists have dug in and been accused by residents of brutalising the population.

Plumes of smoke filled the sky over Ajdabiya yesterday as the air strikes escalated, forcing terrified residents to flee the strategic coastal city, 160 kilometres south of the eastern rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

US warships and submarines fired 16 new Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan targets in the over the last 24 hours, the Pentagon said, adding that coalition warplanes carried out 153 sorties over the same period.

The total number of Tomahawks launched at Libya rose to at least 170.

Libyan state television reported coalition warplanes also carried out raids late Friday on the coastal town of Zliten, 160 kilometres (100 miles) east of Tripoli.

Gaddafi also appeared to be showing signs of strain as his key allies put out feelers to mediators, possibly over an exit strategy.

"It's clear that the regime is reaching out to several possible mediators, interlocutors to try to get a message across," Gene Cretz, the recently withdrawn US ambassador to Libya, told reporters.

"I'm not exactly sure what the message is, but it clearly indicates, I think, at least some kind of desperation, I think, at this point," Cretz said.

The Washington Post reported today that the United States and its allies were considering supplying weapons to the Libyan opposition.

US President Barack Obama's administration believes UN Resolution 1973, which authorised international intervention in Libya, has the "flexibility" to allow such assistance, it reported, citing unnamed US and European officials.

Cretz said administration officials were having "the full gamut" of discussions on "potential assistance we might offer, both on the non-lethal and the lethal side."

France meanwhile backed training and arming the rebels, the Post reported.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy held out hopes of a diplomatic initiative to end the conflict.

"There will certainly be a Franco-British initiative to clearly show the solution is not only military but also political and diplomatic," Sarkozy said, referring to key talks on Libya to be held in London on Tuesday.

US President Barack Obama who has come under pressure at home for the launching new military action abroad was to address the nation late Monday on the conflict in Libya.

NATO has named three-star Canadian general, Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, to run NATO's Libya operations, enforcing the UN-mandated no-fly zone and arms embargo.

Bouchard will also take command of the entire military campaign if the 28-member alliance agrees to take up the reins fully from the US-led coalition.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he expected NATO to take full command of military operations in Libya "within a matter of days".

Meanwhile, Libyan health ministry official Khaled Omar told reporters that 114 people have been killed and 445 wounded in four days of coalition strikes, from Sunday to Wednesday.

Omar said 104 people were killed in Tripoli and its suburbs, while 10 were killed in Sirte, Gaddafi’s hometown, some 600 kilometres south of the capital.

The Pentagon said 12 countries were now taking part in the coalition seeking to enforce the no-fly zone, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Qatar became the first Arab nation to take part in the military campaign, with two of its Mirage fighter jets carrying out "air interdiction mission," its air force and the French military said yesterday.