Italy ‘to join attacks in Libya’

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has approved the use of his country’s air force in Nato’s Libya mission.

Italy was ready to allow its jets to take “targeted military action”, he said in a statement.

Earlier, a Nato air strike badly damaged buildings in Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi’s compound in Tripoli.

Nato is enforcing a UN resolution to protect civilians in Libya amid a revolt that began in February, inspired by other uprisings in the Arab world.

The Libyan government accused Nato of trying to assassinate Col Gaddafi after at least two missiles reportedly struck his sprawling Bab al-Azizia compound early on Monday.

Correspondents said the blasts at the compound were among the biggest explosions in the capital so far.

Col Gaddafi’s son, Saif al-Islam, condemned the “cowardly” attack with a defiant statement condemning the Nato mission.

“You, Nato, are surrounded by agents, traitors and spies, while Muammar Gaddafi is surrounded by millions,” he said.

“So I tell you now that you are losing the battle. History has proved that no state can rely on them to win.”

The BBC’s Ian Pannell in Tripoli said the damaged buildings appeared to be the same ones that Col Gaddafi used to host a recent visit by an African Union peace mission.

It was unclear how many people were killed or injured in the attack, which prompted three Libyan TV stations to go off the air for a brief period.