Warplanes pound Libyan defences

Western air strikes attacked Muammar Gaddafi's defences and allied war planes patrolled Libyan skies last day, lifting the siege of Benghazi and allowing rebels to surge forward and retake lost ground.

The charred bodies of at least 14 government soldiers lay scattered in the desert.

The US military said the first stage of coalition raids under a UN Security Council remit to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya had been "successful" and Gaddafi's offensive on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi stopped in its tracks.

A Libyan government health official said the death toll from the Western air strikes had risen to 64 yesterday after some of the wounded died.

 ODYSSEY DAWN: French planes fired the first shots Saturday, destroying tanks and armoured vehicles near Benghazi in a United Nations-endorsed intervention to force Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians who launched an uprising last month against his 41-year rule.

France sent an aircraft carrier toward Libya and its planes were over the country again Sunday, defence officials said. Britain said its planes had targeted Libya's air defences mainly around the capital Tripoli.

On the main road south from Benghazi, some 14 government tanks, 20 troop carriers, two trucks with multiple rocket launchers and dozens of pick-ups were all destroyed. Some still smouldered. Fourteen bodies lay next to the vehicles, though the scale of the bombardment made identifying bodies difficult as tyres burned and munitions exploded in the flames.

US and British warships and submarines launched 110 Tomahawk missiles overnight against air defences around the capital Tripoli and the western city of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gaddafi's forces, US military officials said.

They said US forces and planes were working with Britain, France, Canada and Italy in operation "Odyssey Dawn." Denmark said it had four fighter planes ready to join in Sunday and was awaiting US instructions.

It was the biggest Western military intervention in the Arab world since the invasion of Iraq began exactly eight years ago.

Gaddafi said all Libyans had now been armed to defend the country and Western defeat was inevitable. Libya's state news agency said more than a million men and women would be armed.

Explosions and heavy anti-aircraft fire rattled Tripoli in the early hours of yesterday. Defiant cries of "Allahu Akbar" [God is Greatest] echoed around the city centre.

Libyan state television showed footage from an unidentified hospital of what it called victims of the "colonial enemy." Ten bodies were wrapped up in white and blue bed sheets, and several people were wounded, one of them badly, the television said.

The mood in Tripoli turned markedly anti-Western, and crowds shouted defiant slogans and shot in the air.

Tripoli residents said they had heard an explosion near the eastern Tajoura district, while in Misrata they said strikes had targeted an airbase used by Gaddafi's forces. Gaddafi's troops were still surrounding Misrata yesterday, a resident said, and government snipers were posted on rooftops in the city centre.

"They seem to be ready to fire at anything that moves," the resident, named Mohammed, told Reuters.

The Western intervention, after weeks of diplomatic wrangling, was welcomed in Benghazi with a mix of apprehension and relief.

"We think this will end Gaddafi's rule. Libyans will never forget France's stand with them. If it weren't for them, then Benghazi would have been overrun tonight," said Iyad Ali, 37.

"We salute France, Britain, the United States and the Arab countries for standing with Libya. But we think Gaddafi will take out his anger on civilians,” civil servant Khalid al-Ghurfaly.

“So the West has to hit him hard."