"A string of blasts shook windows across central Tripoli from 1am and sent a plume of black smoke high into the sky.

"A series of secondary explosions suggested fuel tanks had exploded, which would chime with claims by Nato that its jets had struck a storage facility for military vehicles.

"Moussa Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said that the base was used for a reserve force of the People's Army, but had been evacuated because of the likelihood it would be a target."

Read on...