Three army officers, including a captain and a colonel defected to Tunisia by boat along with twenty Libyan civilians.

Seven Libyan civilians and a Ukrainian doctor also died in the most recent fighting, doctors told Reuters, with about 120 people injured.

The United States helped shape a U.N. Security Council resolution that mandated the protection of Libyan civilians.

They already believe that the February resolution allowing "all necessary measures" to protect Libyan civilians has been exploited by Nato to wage war on the side of the rebels.

The French military claimed to have supplied only light arms and ammunition to help Libyan civilians defend themselves from attacks by government forces.

In addition to the two journalists, seven Libyan civilians and one Ukrainian doctor were killed on the 20th.

Libyan civilians: an old man and a young woman.

Last night, NATO decided to take on the additional responsibility of protecting Libyan civilians.

It cannot be policy to protect the lives of tens of thousands of Libyan civilians only if the intervention meets certain standards of cost effectiveness from week to week.

The admission came shortly after American warplanes had bombed Libyan civilians from British bases.