British forces bomb bunker in Gaddafi’s hometown

The British Ministry of Defense on Friday said its Tornado jets attacked a command bunker in Muammar al-Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte.

The jets took off from RAF Marham in Norfolk on Thursday night, on a long-range strike mission in conjunction with Nato forces.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defense said a formation of Tornado GR4s “fired a salvo of Storm Shadow precision-guided missiles against a large headquarters bunker”.

Agence France-Presse reported that Nato planes destroyed 29 armed vehicles in Sirte on Thursday in an attack on Gaddafi loyalists.

There is no indication that Gaddafi was in the bunker itself at the time of the attack. British Defense Secretary Liam Fox said on Friday:

We have information that there are some elements of the regime in Sirte. Where they are still continuing to wage war on the people of Libya, we will continue to degrade their military capabilities.

The attack on the military bunker last night by the RAF was part of that. The regime needs to recognize that the game is up. It is all over and they need to stop attacking their own people.

Libyan rebels are also building up their forces on the road to Sirte, sending tanks and rocket launchers.

The air raid came as fighting continued on the streets of Tripoli. Al Jazeera reported Friday that the rebels had stepped up efforts to clear the capital of pro-Gaddafi forces, storming the Abu Salim neighborhood.

Rebel leaders have appealed to foreign governments to unfreeze Libyan funds. The U.N. Has already said it would release $1.5 billion in Libyan assets for humanitarian purposes.

(Read more on GlobalPost: Libyan rebels move base to Tripoli)