TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Loud explosions rocked Tripoli early on Wednesday as NATO kept up its heaviest bombing of the Libyan capital since air strikes began in March, but Muammar Gaddafi vowed to fight to the end.

Attacks continued through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning with warplanes hitting the city several times an hour. The Libyan leader’s government said bombs had killed 31 people.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Waves of NATO aircraft hit Tripoli on Tuesday in the most sustained bombardment of the Libyan capital since Western forces began air strikes in March.

By Tuesday afternoon, war planes were striking different parts of the city several times an hour, hour after hour, rattling windows and sending clouds of grey smoke into the sky, a Reuters correspondent in the centre of the city said.

YAFRAN/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Loud explosions shook Tripoli on Monday night in what appeared to be stepped up NATO air strikes on the Libyan capital, and rebel forces seized a town in the west, driving out Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.

Explosions were heard in Tripoli just before midnight, the latest in several rounds of bombings in the last two days.

YAFRAN/TRIPOLI, June 6 (Reuters) – Libyan rebels entered the
mountain town of Yafran on Monday, driving out Muammar Gaddafi’s
forces in a sign NATO air strikes in the area may be paying off.

Yafran had been besieged by pro-Gaddafi forces for more than
a month with food, drinking water and medicines running short.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libya’s rebel leaders must plan in detail how they would run the country if Muammar Gaddafi stood down and should learn from Iraq after the 2003 invasion, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday.

Western governments and the Libyan rebels say a combination of NATO air strikes, diplomatic isolation and grass-roots opposition will eventually end the Libyan leader’s 41-year rule.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s aides brought foreign media to a hospital on Sunday to see a baby they described as a wounded victim of a NATO air strike.

But a hospital staff member, in a note passed to a journalist, said the infant was in fact injured in a car accident.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – British and French attack helicopters struck inside Libya for the first time overnight on Saturday, hitting targets in the oil port of Brega as NATO forces stepped up their air war against Muammar Gaddafi.

Aircraft of the NATO-led alliance also hit targets in Tripoli, where at least six powerful explosions were heard. A Reuters correspondent in the Libyan capital said aircraft could be heard overhead at the time of the blasts, before sunset.

TRIPOLI, June 4 (Reuters) – British and French attack
helicopters were used to strike inside Libya for the first time
overnight on Saturday, hitting targets in the oil port of Brega
as NATO forces stepped up their air war against Muammar Gaddafi.

A NATO-led military alliance extended its mission to protect
civilians in Libya for a further 90 days this week, and France
said it was stepping up military pressure as well as working
with those close to Gaddafi to try to persuade him to quit.

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – China made its first confirmed contact with Libyan rebels in the latest diplomatic setback for Muammar Gaddafi, and France said on Friday it was working with those close to the veteran ruler to convince him to leave power.

The meeting in Qatar between a Chinese diplomat and the leader of the rebel National Transitional Council follows a spate of defections by high profile figures this week including top oil official and former prime minister Shukri Ghanem.

TRIPOLI, June 2 (Reuters) – The Libyan government said on
Thursday it will send a representative to the next OPEC meeting
to replace the top oil official who defected saying he had lost
faith in the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.

Shokri Ghanem, who oversaw Libya’s oil and gas sector, is
the second most senior official to quit and rebels said the
defection showed that the end is nearing for Gaddafi after more
than four decades in power.