The first daytime bombing raid on the Libyan capital Tripoli on Saturday morning heralded a new stage in the military campaign against the Gaddafi regime.

It hit a military storage base in the centre of Tripoli that has been subject of repeated raids all week.

But a military spokesman said a separate mission the night before had taken out watchtowers on the leadership’s Bab al-Azizia compound and threatened to begin opening up its miles of bleak green-painted concrete walls up by precision bombing…

On Saturday evening, it appeared the regime was attempting to open back-door channels to negotiate with the British government.