French fighter jets have shot down a Libyan warplane in the no-fly zone over the rebel-held city of Misratah, ABC News has reported.
The Soko G-2 Galeb plane was believed to the first Libyan jet sent into the skies over the country since the coalition began its bombing campaign.
There have been five consecutive nights of air strikes on targets across Libya in an attempt to prevent Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's air force from taking to the skies.
Earlier, French aircraft had hit an air base about 150 miles (250km) from the Mediterranean coastline, while other attacks targeted tanks, artillery, an ammunition dump and helicopters.
More than a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from U.S. and British ships in the Mediterranean Sea late Wednesday and early Thursday, their targets including Gadhafi's air defense missile sites in Tripoli and south of the capital.
In the capital, Libyan deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim said that the military compound at Juffra was among the targets hit before dawn.
Juffra is one of at least two air bases deep in Libya's interior, on main routes that lead from neighboring countries in the Sahara region that have been suppliers of arms and fighters for the Gaddafi regime