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Old 19th Aug 2011, 08:17
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ORAC
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Torygraph: Libya: RAF airstrikes sink boat filled with Gaddafi troops after refinery battle

The RAF sank a boat filled with Libyan troops loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi in the final act of a fierce battle with rebel soldiers for the country’s last functioning oil refinery.

The intervention came at the culmination of a firefight that ended Col Gaddafi’s control of the Zawiyah facility, which lies just 30 miles west of the Libyan capital Tripoli.

Pro-Gaddafi forces had taken to the sea by boat after fighting a desperate rearguard battle for the refinery, the regime’s last source of fuel for its besieged capital.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said they had commandeered a tug in an effort to regroup after a Nato strike destroyed their armed vehicles in the refinery.

“Although a challenging target, small and under way at sea, a direct hit was scored with a laser-guided Paveway bomb which sank the vessel,” Major Gen Nick Pope said.

The RAF delivered the final blow just as two senior officers boarded the ship from an inflatable........
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