Air strikes target Libyan capital

Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) planes get ready to take off from the 702 French air force base to take part in an air surveillance mission above the Mediterranean sea on March 23, 2011. Coalition forces - led by the United States, France and Britain and including other European states along with Qatar - have launched air strikes in Libya since Saturday, acting under a UN resolution authorising ''all necessary means'' to protect civilians in Libya. AFP

The international coalition to enforce a UN authorised no-fly zone over Libya conducted airstrikes overnight Wednesday, Arabic satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera reported.

The channel reported that explosions were heard in the southwestern part of Tripoli around midnight.  The targets of the bombings were not known.

Television images showed anti-aircraft tracer rounds being fired intermittently by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who for weeks has been fighting an uprising based in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city.