Africa, U.s. Military | featured news

U.S.-led military action in Libya has bolstered rebels fighting Moammar Gadhafi's forces, but the international operation could continue for months, the Obama administration says.

The coalition enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya fired 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles and flew 153 air sorties in the past 24 hours targeting Muammar Gaddafi's artillery, mechanized forces and command and control infrastructure, a U.S. military spokeswoman said on Friday.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E fighter crashed in Libya overnight and one crewmember has been safely rescued and the other is "in the process of recovery," a spokesman for the U.S. military's Africa Command said on Tuesday.

If the U.S. military is hesitant to enact a no-fly zone over Libya, the Army is capable of giving the opposition the capacity to use anti-aircraft defenses themselves, Sen. Joe Lieberman suggested Thursday.

The US defence department says it is repositioning some of its forces around Libya as Western nations consider options for possible intervention against Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

Four Americans taken hostage by Somali pirates off East Africa were shot and killed by their captors Monday, the U.S. military said, marking the first time U.S. citizens have been killed in a wave of pirate attacks plaguing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean for years.