- Both crewmen injured after ejecting but in safe hands
- Libyans claim civilians killed in third night of air strikes
- Minister refuses to rule out use of ground troops
- Italy calls for Nato co-ordination and labels current command structure 'anarchic'
- Gaddafi snipers on murderous spree in Misarata and guns turned on rebels in Adjabiyah
- Claims Gaddafi's son was killed in suicide air attack being investigated
An American plane has come down in a Libyan field, it was confirmed today, in the first military setback for the coalition effort.
The U.S. Air Force F-15E Eagle crash-landed due to a suspected mechanical failure during the third night of air strikes on Colonel Gaddafi's military positions.
It came as reports filtered through today that Gaddafi's forces are killing residents in Misarata, which is still held by anti-government forces.
The action on the ground followed a busy night of air raids by coalition forces, which were met by anti-aircraft fire over Tripoli, the country's capital.
Crashed: Onlookers surround the wreckage of a U.S Air Force F-15E fighter jet after it crashed near the eastern city of Benghazi
Ruins: The fighter jet crashed in Libya overnight after apparent mechanical failure. Both men ejected safely and escaped with only minor injuries
Repelling the raids: Libyan army fire anti-aircraft rounds during air strikes by coalition forces in Tripoli last night
The F-15E Eagle was found an hour outside Benghazi. The U.S. military later said an Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle crashed in Libya but it was not shot down.
Vince Crawley, a spokesman for the Africa Command, said both crew members ejected and sustained minor injuries.
He added one crew member was safely found. Another spokesman said an operation was currently under way to recover the other one 'but we know he's safe'.
Mr Crawley said today the plane may have suffered a mechanical problem.
The U.S. fired 20 Tomahawk cruise missiles into Libya in the past 12 hours, a military spokeswoman confirmed this morning.
A total of 159 Tomahawks have been fired by the United States and the United Kingdom since the mission -- called Operation Odyssey Dawn -- began Saturday.
'We think we have been very effective in degrading his ability to control his regime forces,' said General Carter Ham, commander of U.S. Africa Command.
On the ground, a doctor in Misarata said Gaddafi's tanks are in the streets and snipers control the main roadway in Misarata, with international forces not implementing the no-fly zone in the coastal city.
The doctor, speaking anonymously, said nine people were killed this morning, including a fellow medic and his four children who were shot by snipers.
'Snipers are everywhere in Misarata, shooting anyone who walks by while the world is still watching. There is no protection for civilians,' he said.
In Ajdabiyah, a rebel commander who defected from the Libyan special forces said professional ex-soldiers had poured into the area and the nearby oil port city of Brega, encircling the Gaddafi forces to disrupt their supply lines under Western air cover.
'If not for the West we would not have been able to push forward,' said Ahmed Buseifi. 'I'm pinpointing where their forces are and their tanks and passing it up the chain of command.'
Locals clamber over the jet and look for mementoes from the U.S. jet
People look at components of AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles from the F-15E fighter
Downed: F15E Eagle fighter jet, similar to that lost in Libya last night
The downing of the plane and reports of the fighting followed an extraordinary day of political wrangling over the coalition position on the legality of a strike to kill Gaddafi.
No.10 slapped down Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards after he flatly rejected ministers’ suggestions that the Libyan dictator was a legitimate target for assassination.
The public spat just days into the operation highlighted growing tensions about ‘mission creep’ in the assault on Gaddafi.
Today, a Government minister refused to rule out the deployment of British ground troops in Libya.
Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey said there was a clear distinction between sending in a full-scale occupation force - which is banned under the terms of the United Nations mandate - and a more limited intervention.
However, he also accepted that the current conflict could end in a stalemate which left the country divided and Col Gaddafi still holding power in Tripoli.
'That is one possible outcome,' he told BBC1's Breakfast programme.
'If it is, so be it, that wouldn't be desirable. But a stable outcome where they weren't killing each other would in a sense be one way of achieving the humanitarian objective.'
Mr Harvey insisted the air strikes were aimed at military targets.
Rebellion: Rebel fighters firing missiles against the Libyan leader's forces in a desert near Ajdabiya
Show of unity: Dr Liam Fox, Secretary of State for Defence, arrives in Downing Street ahead of a Cabinet Meeting alongside General Sir David Richards
However, today, in his first public comments on the crisis, the lead U.S. commander Army Gen. Carter Ham, said it was possible that Gaddafi might manage to retain power.
'I don't think anyone would say that is ideal,' the general said, foreseeing a possible outcome that contrasts with his President's opinion that Gaddafi should be toppled.
Last night, as coalition jets struck targets in Libya for the third night running, David Cameron and Barack Obama insisted again that the dictator must go – but that the aim of the assault was to protect civilians.
Mr Cameron also called for Libyan commanders still loyal to Gaddafi to ‘put down your weapons and walk away from your tanks’.
Number 10 sources insisted General Richards was ‘simply wrong’ to publicly suggest a UN resolution would not allow Gaddafi to be targeted directly if he was harming his own people.
The spat came as David Cameron battled to keep the support of the Arab League for the mission and ensure Turkey remained onside.
There is widespread unease at the air strikes - and the Libyans sought to widen the divide in the international ranks by claiming last night's attacks brought civilian fatalities and that hospitals were filling up with the wounded.
Details also emerged of Britain’s Tomahawk cruise missile attack on Gaddafi’s presidential compound in Tripoli, destroying a military command and control centre, while up to 800 Royal Marines were placed on standby to move to the Mediterranean.
Claims emerged yesterday that Gaddafi’s sixth son Khamis was killed when a Libyan pilot deliberately crashed his jet into a barracks on Saturday.
Those claims are being investigated today, although are disputed by the regime.
Meanwhile, Britain abandoned a further raid by Tornado bombers when SAS soldiers on the ground warned that civilians and journalists were being used as human shields.
And Russian premier Vladimir Putin provocatively likened the UN-backed mission to the medieval crusades.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini reiterated a warning that Italy would take back control of airbases it has authorised for use by allies for operations over Libya unless a NATO coordination structure was agreed.
Italian officials have described the current three-way command structure involving France, Britain and the United States and the resulting bombing campaign as 'anarchic'.
However, it was General Richards who caused consternation in Whitehall when he appeared before TV cameras yesterday to insist Gaddafi was not a target.
Air attacks: An RAF Tornado GR4 leaves a trail of heat haze as it takes off from RAF Marham, in Norfolk yesterday
Intimidating: Missiles can be seen slung underneath an RAF Tornado GR4 as it takes off from Norfolk yesterday
‘Absolutely not,’ he said. ‘It is not allowed under the UN resolution and it is not something I want to discuss any further.’
Downing Street and Foreign Office officials were quick to dispute that – saying assassinating Gaddafi would be legal because it would preserve civilian lives in Libya.
Foreign Secretary William Hague had refused to rule out targeting Gaddafi, echoing comments made by Defence Secretary Liam Fox on Sunday.
The Government also came under fire from U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who described the calls for Gaddafi’s killing ‘unwise’.
He warned that it could undermine the cohesion of the international coalition supporting the no-fly zone.
‘If we start adding additional objectives then I think we create a problem in that respect,’ he said. ‘I also think it is unwise to set as specific goals things that you may or may not be able to achieve.’
One senior government source said: ‘There has not been some major falling out, but General Richards did say the wrong thing.
‘He is right that regime change would be illegal, but there are obviously circumstances where it would be legal to target Gaddafi if his actions are harming civilians.
‘It would be so if, for example, we were taking out a compound because we knew he was inside and directing a campaign against his people.’
The Tomahawk missile strike on Gaddafi’s compound was carried out by the submarine HMS Triumph.
British special forces operating deep behind enemy lines identified the three-storey building in Tripoli as a crucial target.
Destruction: A blackened wreck from Gaddafi's bombed-out armoured column outside Benghazi
Pledge: David Cameron told Parliament what we 'can't stand by as a dictator kills his own people'
And soon afterwards, it was reduced to rubble by a precision strike from the 1,000lb weapons. The block was about 150 yards from the tents which the Libyan leader uses as his official residence.
It is not known where the dictator was at the time of the bombing but he has not been seen or heard since the attack. He may have fled into the desert. Senior government sources described the hugely symbolic strike at the heart of his regime as a ‘shot across his bows’.
The target was agreed around four days ago by British military personnel in concert with the U.S. and the French. It was not the result of specific ‘actionable intelligence’ that Gaddafi was present.
In a six-hour Commons debate on the crisis, Mr Cameron said he would not get into the issue of which targets in Libya were or were not legitimate.
But he issued a dramatic appeal to Gaddafi’s forces to defect to the opposition. ‘Put down your weapons, walk away from your tanks, stop obeying orders from this regime,’ he urged.
The House overwhelmingly voted to support the UN resolution, by 557-13.
General Richards’ opposition to targeting Gaddafi risks a repeat of the standoff between Gordon Brown’s government and former Army chief Lord Dannatt.
General Richards put himself at odds with Dr Fox, who twice at the weekend said Colonel Gaddafi was a ‘legitimate target’ and that it would be a ‘possibility’ to launch a strike to take him out with bunker buster bombs.
Dr Fox was backed up by Mr Hague, who yesterday refused to rule out targeting Gaddafi. ‘It all depends on how people behave,’ he said.
Downing Street and the Foreign Office both reacted with irritation to General Richards’ comments.
A Foreign Office official added: ‘The Government’s position is what the Prime Minister said, not what the Chief of the Defence staff said.'
James Arbuthnot, Tory chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said Mr Cameron had told him that the aim of protecting Libya’s civilians could not be achieved without the removal of Gaddafi.
He said: ‘We won’t be able to protect the civilians in my opinion – and obviously the Prime Minister’s and that of most leaders of the countries in the region – while Gaddafi remains in place.’
But there were also divisions in government. Sources said that Attorney General Dominic Grieve spoke to Dr Fox, encouraging him to tone down his rhetoric.
Labour leader Ed Miliband backed Mr Cameron’s decision to start air strikes but condemned the mixed messages from the Government.
He told MPs: ‘We all know ambiguity about the case for intervention is one of the biggest problems we had in Iraq. We cannot afford mission creep, including in our public pronouncements.’
Shadow defence spokesman Jim Murphy said Dr Fox’s comments were ‘irresponsible in many ways’. In a scathing aside, he added: ‘Fox should be put back in his box’.
Cameron's bid to keep Arab allies on board
By TIM SHIPMAN
David launched a charm offensive yesterday, amid pointed criticism of his Libyan policy from Russia and wavering support from the Arab League.
The Prime Minister phoned Amr Moussa, the secretary-general of the Arab League, yesterday morning, a day after Mr Moussa had condemned the ‘bombardment of civilians'.
Mr Cameron was also facing resistance from Turkey, which like Libya has a large Muslim population.
Turkey’s unease is holding up the transfer of control of the mission from the U.S. to Nato.
But there was outright condemnation from Russian premier Vladimir Putin, who gave fuel to Muslim critics of the attacks by branding the UN resolution backing the use of force – a resolution on which Russia abstained – a return to the Crusades.
‘The resolution is defective and flawed,’ said Mr Putin. ‘It allows everything. It resembles medieval calls for crusades.’
Officials in London pointed out that such criticism should be seen in the context of the £2billion of oil deals Russia has with Libya.
Mr Moussa, meanwhile, said that while he supports a no-fly zone, ‘the Arab League was against aerial bombing in principle’.
A No 10 spokesman said: ‘The PM stressed the care we were taking with targeting to avoid civilian casualties.
‘The two leaders agreed that the protection of civilians was paramount. Amr Moussa welcomed the update and said that he supported UN Security Council Resolution 1973.
‘The Prime Minister concluded that they were “on the same page”.’
Officials said Arab defence officials could be invited to join future meetings of Nato ambassadors in Brussels. Mr Cameron and Barack Obama both want to hand control of the mission from the U.S. to Nato.
But that move is facing resistance from Turkey, a Nato member. The North Atlantic Council will meet today to thrash out the differences as every Nato country must agree the plans.
Yesterday, Mr Cameron called Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan, who called for air strikes to end ‘as soon as possible’.
‘If Nato is going into operation we have some conditions,’ Mr Erdogan said. ‘Nato should go in with the recognition and acknowledgement that Libya belongs to the Libyans, not for the distribution of its underground resources and wealth.’
Turkey’s foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu said legal procedures for establishing a coalition ‘were not sufficiently respected’ by Mr Cameron.
Mr Cameron responded: ‘There are millions in the Arab world who frankly want to know that the UN, the U.S., the UK, the French [and] the international community care about their suffering and their oppression.’
Defence officials say Qatari warplanes are to join the no-fly zone operation and the United Arab Emirates is being pressured to help too.
The tensions come amid signs of strained relations with the White House. U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates yesterday described British claims that Gaddafi could be assassinated as ‘unwise’. He had previously condemned Mr Cameron’s calls for a no-fly zone as ‘loose talk’.
Mr Cameron has not directly discussed the military action with President Obama since it began on Saturday – an omission that would have been unthinkable under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
A senior Whitehall source said: ‘Relations with the Americans are perfectly fine with the odd little wrinkle that often pops up. The Turks have been one of the slower partners in the convoy but we think they are getting there.’
A No 10 source insisted Turkish problems over Nato were ‘not likely to be a deal-breaker’.
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