UK MoD: Libya Operation Ellamy Update - 7 September 2011

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Major General Nick Pope, the Chief of the Defence Staff’s Communications Officer, said:

"Royal Air Force aircraft conducted further strikes against Colonel Qadhafi’s remnant forces, while the Royal Navy remained on patrol off Tripoli to secure the safe passage of shipping.

"On Monday evening, Royal Air Force Tornados on patrol to the east of Sirte identified a group of three former regime armed pick-up trucks. Close observation revealed that they were acting as a command group for a dug-in artillery piece which had recently been in action; a single Paveway guided bomb destroyed all three vehicles. Off Tripoli, HMS Liverpool and other NATO vessels maintained their long standing watch along the Libyan coast, maintaining UNSCRs 1970 and 1973 and protecting humanitarian shipping movements.

"Once again, a formation of Tornado GR4s from RAF Marham in Norfolk demonstrated NATO’s ability to reach deep into Libya and the Sahara, flying a long range precision strike mission with Storm Shadow missiles. Their target on Tuesday afternoon was the surface-to-air missile depot at Sebha, near to the airfield and former regime headquarters complex, which surveillance showed was still being used as an active military base by those of Qadhafi’s troops who continue to oppress the population of the town. A Tristar tanker from RAF Brize Norton supported the mission on the long flight south. A couple of hours later, an armed reconnaissance patrol by Tornados out of Gioia del Colle located another of Qadhafi’s armed trucks east of Sirte, on this occasion armed with a multiple rocket launcher. A Brimstone missile removed the threat that this vehicle posed."

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