Smoke was seen on a military base nearby, which was the target of the attack. Eyewitnesses say people were injured.

New York: London:  Tripoli:

19:21 BBC The NATO strike on Tripoli today damaged parts of a university complex today in Tripoli. Smoke was seen on a military base nearby, which was the target of the attack. Eyewitnesses say people were injured.

17:32 AFP & Al JazeeraThere is fierce fighting in Ajdabiya. AFP news agency reports that a convoy of 60 opposition vehicles came under heavy artillery and mortar fire. They rushed reinforcements to the front line between their territory in the east and the mainly government-held west. The AFP correspondent counted some 100 rebel vehicles heading to the front. No aircraft from the NATO-led air operation were immediately seen.

17:00 The Guardian A rescue ship for migrant workers stranded in Misrata has been prevented from entering the port because of the severity of the fighting.

Michele Bombassei, a spokesman for the International Organisation for Migration, said the ship was due to rescue around 800 people today, but had been forced to stay out at sea while the fighting rages.

16:53 Reuters Moussa Koussa is no longer subject to the financial sanctions imposed by the EU, the British government has said.

16:34 ChangeInLibya tweets that revolutionaries managed to defeat Gaddafi militias in the heavy transport road and capture 10 of them.

15:58 The Guardian‘s Harriet Sherwood reports more explosions, gunfire and anti-aircraft fire in Tripoli. Military planes are still flying overhead.

15:31 Reuters Gaddafi’s forces have fired anti-aircraft guns at NATO warplanes from positions in central Tripoli. Coalition jets appear to have increased the amount of sorties flown over the capital and could be heard flying over throughout the morning and early afternoon. No air strikes have been reported.

13:59 Reuters Italian oil firm Eni plans to fill a tanker with crude oil from its oilfields in western Libya to Venice, where it can be stored more safely, a spokesman said on Thursday.

“Eni is taking measures to lift as much equity oil as possible from the terminal at Mellitah via an oil tanker which will take the oil to Venice and stock it there for safety reasons,” said a spokesman for the firm

12:37 Reuters In Misrata, the death toll of this morning’s attack with Grad rockets has risen to 23, including 3 Egyptians. “Dozens are wounded. Those killed are civilians and most of them are women and children,” a spokesman told Reuters.

11:02 Wefaq Libya reports that more than 80 rockets landed in Misrata this morning. The attack began at 6am Libyan time.

10:48 Al Jazeera English France is not currently in favour of arming Libya’s opposition fighters engaged in combat with troops loyal to Gaddafi, Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said. Asked if NATO should arm them, he said “France is not currently in that frame of mind”.

10:37 Reuters Gaddafi’s forces struck Misrata with dozens of Grad rockets on Thursday, killing eight people according to an opposition spokesman. “They fired Grads at a residential area called Kasr Ahmad near the port this morning. They fired at least 80 rockets on that area. So far we have eight martyrs and 20 wounded,” Abdelbasset Abu Mzereiq told Reuters by telephone.