NATO sinks eight Libyan ‘warships’

NATO has sunk eight Libyan warships and intercepted a fuel tanker it believed was heading for the military, the alliance said, in a marked escalation of a Western-led bombing campaign.

The Western alliance, working under a UN mandate to protect civilians from government forces, says military and political pressure is weakening Muammar Gaddafi’s hold on power and should eventually dislodge him.

US President Barack Obama on Thursday said the Libyan leader’s downfall was “inevitable” and it would be the only way for a transition to democracy to take place.