Allies Attack Libyan Military as U.S. Seeks NATO Command

U.S. and allied warplanes carried out further strikes against Muammar Qaddafi’s ground forces and hit an air base deep inside Libya as coalition nations neared agreement on having NATO assume operational control.

French aircraft bombed an air base 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Libya’s coast last night, a French military spokesman, Thierry Burkhard, said. The U.S. said there were 15 missile strikes on Libyan forces overnight. Qaddafi loyalists increased their attacks on cities, killing 16 people yesterday in Misrata in the west and six in the nearby coastal town of Zentan, opposition spokesman Abdulhafid Ghoga said at a news conference in Benghazi. The French Defense Ministry said one of its Rafale jets, after tracking a Libyan plane in the no-fly zone, destroyed it after it landed in Misrata.