NATO jets pounded Libyan ports overnight, destroying eight of Moammar Gadhafi's warships, an alliance spokesman said Friday. NATO targeted the ships in Tripoli, Al-Khums and Sirte after it was apparent that Gadhafi's forces were increasingly using naval vessels to launch attacks on civilians, said Mike Bracken, NATO's military spokesman. He said Gadhafi was indiscriminately mining waters in Misrata and hampering the flow of humanitarian aid.
"He was using maritime forces to lay mines. These were legal targets," Bracken said at a briefing in Brussels, Belgium.
Bracken did not say whether crew members were aboard when the ships were hit.
Bracken said the NATO campaign was progressing and that Gadhafi's combat power had been severely curtailed.
But the Libyan leader's forces continued their heavy shelling of Dehiba, on the Tunisian border, where thousands of refugees have amassed in recent weeks. The border crossing, through which humanitarian aid is often trucked in, was closed Friday. (read more)
