Tripoli: Nato warplanes on Sunday carried out raids against the port of Tripoli and the residence of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi near the centre of the capital, a Libyan official said.
"There were two raids on the port and Bab Al Aziziya", the residence of Gaddafi which has already been targeted several times, the official said.
An AFP journalist heard two explosions and a fighter plane flying over the capital at low altitude. Taken out in a bus by the authorities, international correspondents were unable to gain access to Gaddafi's residence. An official said after talking to guards in front of the immense residence: "They're expecting new raids, we don't have permission to go in."
Earlier, Nato warplanes hit eight vessels of Gaddafi's navy, the alliance said as US President Barack Obama answered constitutional questions regarding the length of the Libyan conflict.
Meanwhile, authorities in Tripoli slammed Obama as "delusional" for earlier suggesting that the veteran Libyan leader's departure is inevitable. They also strongly denied reports that Gaddafi's wife and daughter had fled to Tunisia and that Oil Minister Shukri Ganem had defected.
Nato said it carried out "precision air strikes" in the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, striking eight vessels. "Given the escalating use of naval assets, Nato had no choice but to take decisive action to protect the civilian population of Libya and Nato forces at sea," said Rear Admiral Russell Harding, deputy head of the Nato-led air war.
Harding insisted that all of the targets hit were military but government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim accused Nato of seeking to scare international shipping firms into steering clear of government-held ports.
