On April 10, NATO fighter-jets fired missiles that halted a drive by
Gadhafi's military toward Ajdabiya. Officials said that for the first time
NATO fused intelligence, command and control as well as precision-strike
munitions to destroy 25 Libyan Army T-72 MBTs as well as armored
personnel carriers and artillery.
"In addition to hitting their supplies, our aircraft successfully
destroyed a significant percentage of the Libyan government's armored
forces," Bouchard said. "Some of these armored forces also were involved in
the indiscriminate shelling of Misrata. By eliminating these heavy weapons,
we are reducing the Gadhafi regime's ability to attack the local
population."
Ajdabiya has been deemed a strategic goal of Gadhafi in his war against
the rebels. The city was said to mark the last step toward the regime's
campaign to recapture Benghazi, regarded as the headquarters of the rebel
movement.
"The situation in Ajdabiyah, and Misrata in particular, is desperate for
those Libyans who are being brutally shelled by the [Gadhafi] regime,"
Canadian Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO's no-fly zone
operation in Libya, said.
Tripoli said its military shot down two U.S.-origin CH-47 helicopter
near the eastern Libyan city of Brega. Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled
Kaim said the helicopters had been operated by the rebels.
"The rebels used two Chinook helicopters and they were shot down," Kaim
said.
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