Nato has launched further attacks on Tripoli following the air strike on Colonel Gaddafi’s compound.

State television in Libya confirmed civilian and military targets had been bombed while Nato reported planes struck at a communications headquarters used to coordinate attacks against civilians.

In Misrata an amateur video uploaded to a social media website reportedly showed medics removing bodies from the streets. Rebels claim Gaddafi forces have been trying to re-enter a road leading to the city’s port, its lifeline to the outside.

As the humanitarian situation worsens US official said relief groups were rotating doctors into the besieged city and evacuating migrant workers.

Italy, which has been playing a limited role in Nato operations in Libya, has given the go ahead for its air force to bomb selected military targets in the former Italian colony.

A spokesman for Silvio Berlusconi said the prime minister had telephoned U.S. President Barack Obama to tell him personally of his government’s decision.