Libya ready for battle: Gaddafi

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TRIPOLI, Mar 23 (agencies): A defiant Muammar Gaddafi said Libya is "ready for battle" as Western leaders mulled their next steps on the fifth day Wednesday of UN-backed military strikes on his oil-rich country. "We will win this battle," footage showed Kadhafi telling supporters at his Bab Al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli that was the target of a coalition missile strike. Early Wednesday, CNN reported that coalition airstrikes were launched overnight near the city of Misrata, east of Tripoli. Rebels said they had been under intense attack in their Misrata enclave, which has been besieged by Kadhafi's forces for weeks, with four children killed on Tuesday. Fighting raged between forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and insurgents Tuesday, and despite Gaddafi's boasts, there were reports the Libyan leader may be looking for a way out of the conflict. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told ABC News that people close to Gaddafi have been contacting Libya's allies worldwide to see how they can "get out of this." "We've heard about... people close to him reaching out to people that they know around the world-Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North America, beyond-saying what do we do? How do we get out of this?" she said. But as a senior US officer said Gaddafi forces were still attacking civilians, doubts persisted over the best way to continue the campaign to confront the regime. Coalition forces, led by the United States, France and Britain and including some other European states and Arab country Qatar, are acting under UN Security Council resolution 1973 authorising "all necessary means" to protect civilians. There is coordination but no unified command, and moves to hand over control of the operation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are dividing the alliance. Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed that NATO should play a key role in the command structure of the Libya mission, the White House said. Meanwhile, three journalists including two Agence France-Presse employees held by Gaddafi i's forces since the weekend were released in Tripoli, an AFP journalist said early Wednesday. Dave Clark, Roberto Schmidt, and Getty photographer Joe Raedle had been arrested Saturday.