West ‘secures’ skies over Libya

LIBYAN rebels have claimed as many as 8,000 people opposed to Col Muammar Gaddafi’s rule may have died since the uprising began, as the US claimed last night coalition forces had succeeded in establishing a no-fly zone after two nights of airstrikes.

In separate statements released late last night, opposite sides of the Libyan conflict and US military personnel continued to fight both a physical and public relations war.

As US admiral and chairman of his country’s joint chiefs of staff, Mike Mullen, attempted to calm Arab League concern over airstrikes, a rebel spokesman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga claimed thousands of dead “martyrs” had lost their lives to Col Gaddafi’s forces in the past three weeks.