The US, Britain and France have been pounding Libya with Tomahawk missiles and air strikes in the biggest Western intervention in the Arab world since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

American warships and a British submarine fired at least 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya on Saturday, the US military said. The Libyan authorities say 48 people were killed and some 150 injured, including a number of civilians. Pro-Gaddafi sources say hospitals and non-military zones were also hit.

US Admiral William Gortney told reporters at the Pentagon the cruise missiles "struck more than 20 integrated air defence systems and other air defence facilities ashore."

NATO to join soon
The barrage came two days after a UN Security Council resolution with Arab backing authorised military action to prevent Gaddafi's forces from attacking civilians amid an uprising against his 41-year autocratic rule. The operation, codenamed Odyssey Dawn, began on Saturday when a French warplane fired on a vehicle which the French military said belonged to pro-Gaddafi forces.

The operation is carried out by US, French and British forces, while additional NATO members are expected to join in following a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels on Sunday. Secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that NATO officially welcomes UN resolution 1973, pointing to the wide regional support it got. Mr Rasmussen said he supports the aspirations of the Libyan people towards democracy and human rights.

Benghazi
An AFP correspondent said bombs were dropped early on Sunday near Bab al-Aziziyah, Colonel Gaddafi's Tripoli headquarters, prompting barrages of anti-aircraft fire from Libyan forces that lasted about 40 minutes.

Reports from the rebel stronghold of Benghazi say that the city was again under attack by Gaddafi's troops on Sunday.

Pro-Gaddafi snipers have been more active in Benghazi since forces loyal to the Libyan leader began approaching the city, RNW’s Hans Jaap Melissen reports..

The Tripoli regime has also begun a diplomatic offensive, requesting an emergency session of the UN Security Council. Libya has suspended its co-operation with the European Union aimed at preventing illegal immigration.

Libya's oil
Two Latin American allies of Colonel Gaddafi, Presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia, have criticised the UN-authorised attacks, alleging that the West is merely after Libya's oil.

Russia, which abstained in the Security Council vote over the Lybia no-fly zone, said it "notes with regret this armed action, taken in conjunction with the hastily passed UN Security Council resolution 1973". The message, posted on Russia's foreign ministry website, called for an immediate end to the fighting and the start of a dialogue.

(rk/cl)

© Radio Netherlands Worldwide/AFP/ANP