Warplanes destroy airport antenna

BRUSSELS (AP):

NATO warplanes destroyed the radar antenna at Tripoli International Airport yesterday, the alliance said, claiming the system was being used for military purposes by Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Libyans said NATO hit civilian radar used by air traffic control to guide United Nations and relief agency flights into the airport.

In fighting on the ground yesterday, rebels battled their way inside the oil port of Brega in eastern Libya in an attempt to push out government troops who have held the town for at least two months.

A NATO statement said the air traffic control radar at the civilian airport made NATO jets vulnerable to attacks by Libyan air defences.

"The antenna, which was pre-viously used for civilian air traffic control, was being used by pro-Gaddafi forces to track NATO air assets in the airspace over Tripoli and to coordinate their own air defence early warning system," the statement said.

NATO, which has bombed dozens of military radar sites in the four-month war, said the no-fly zone over Libya made it unnecessary to use the radar for civilian purposes.