French warplanes fly around 400 hours over Libya

Handout photo released by ECPAD (The French Defence communication and audiovisual production agency) shows a French Army Mirage 2000 jet pilots preparing for a mission over Libya at the aerial military base of Solenzara in Corsica, France, March 21, 2011. France has deployed 55 sorties of attack aircrafts totalling 400 flight hours within the three-day operation in Libya so far. (Xinhua/ECPAD)

PARIS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- French warplanes have flown around 400 hours in total in Libyan airspace, amounting to 55 sorties in three days, a military spokesman said Monday.

By nightfall on Monday, France had continued to send warplanes over Libya in the past three days, with 55 sorties accumulating some 400 flight hours, Thierry Burkhard said at a press conference in the French Defense Ministry.

French warplanes conducted air-strikes only on Saturday, destroying four armored vehicles belonging to the Libyan forces, he added.

On Monday, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called the military intervention initiated by France from Saturday afternoon a "success" for it prevented "a bloodshed" of civilians in Benghazi.

Libya's official TV station reported on Sunday that at least 64 people had been killed and 150 others wounded in the joint operation.