Airstrikes fail to deter Gaddafi forces

Western warplanes have hit Libya for a fifth night, but have so far failed to stop Muammar Gaddafi's tanks shelling opposition-held towns.

A loud explosion was heard in the Libyan capital Tripoli early on Thursday and smoke could be seen rising from an area where a military base is situated.

"We heard another explosion just now. We see smoke rising. There are people on rooftops. It seems to be in a military area near the engineering college [in the Tajoura area]," one resident told Reuters news agency.

Eight explosions were also heard in the east of the capital late on Wednesday.

Libyan state television said Western planes had struck in Tripoli and in Jafar, southwest of the capital.

"Military and civilian targets were attacked by colonialist crusaders," the report said.

Government officials have accused coalition forces of killing dozens of civilians, but have not shown reporters in the capital any evidence of such deaths. US military officials deny any civilians have been killed in airstrikes.

Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Tripoli, said foreign journalists were driven around the city on Wednesday with a promise from the government of being taken to see the scene of a coalition air strike and some civilian casualties.

"But none of this happened," she said. "After being driven around for 45 minuets or so, we were being taken back to the hotel and they said they couldn't find the right address."

Undeterred by raids

The US military said it had successfully established a no-fly zone over Libya's coastal areas and had moved on to attack Gaddafi's tanks.

The allies flew 175 sorties in 24 hours, with the US flying 113 of those, a US commander said.

Gerard Longuet, the French defence minister, said France had destroyed about 10 Libyan armoured vehicles over three days.

Undaunted by air strikes, pro-Gaddafi forces pressed ahead with their assaults on the towns of Misurata, Ajdabiya and Zintan in the past 24 hours.

Gaddafi's tanks rolled back into Misurata under the cover of darkness and began shelling the area near the main hospital, residents and opposition fighters said, resuming their attack after their guns were silenced in daylight hours by Western air raids.

Government snipers in the city, Libya's third largest, carried on firing indiscriminately throughout, residents said. An opposition spokesman said the snipers had killed 16 people.

"Government tanks are closing in on Misurata hospital and shelling the area," a doctor in Misurata told Reuters on the phone before the line was cut off.

It was impossible to independently verify the reports.

The Libyan government denies its army is conducting any offensive operations and says troops are only defending themselves when they come under attack.

But a resident in Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, said Gaddafi's forces were bringing up more troops and tanks to bombard the opposition-held town.

Meanwhile in the east, opposition fighters were pinned down outside the strategic junction at Ajdabiya after more than three days of trying to recapture the city.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies