BRITISH AND FRENCH attack helicopters struck targets for the first time in NATO’s campaign in Libya, hitting Muammar Gaddafi’s troops early Saturday in several locations, including near a key coastal oil city, the alliance said.

The action came as a significant step-up in NATO’s operations and a major boost to Libyan rebels on the ground, just a day after rebel fighters forced government troops from three western towns and broke the siege of a fourth in yet another erosion of Gaddafi’s power.

NATO said the helicopters struck targets that included Gaddafi troops hiding in populated areas, military vehicles and equipment.

The Apaches hit two targets near the coastal city of Brega, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense in London. It said they took off from HMS Ocean, stationed off the Libyan coast and returned safely after completing their mission in the early morning hours.

The French helicopters took off from the helicopter transport ship in the Mediterranean, said Colonel Thierry Burkhard. He said the French helicopters struck 15 military vehicles and 5 military command buildings, without identifying the sites or their location.

He said the French helicopters came under light firearms fire but were not hit or damaged. Burkhard said the operation was aimed at putting “additional pressure on the Gaddafi forces who continue to threaten the civilian population.”

Until now, NATO has relied on attack jets, generally flying above 15,000 feet — nearly three miles high and pounding Gaddafi targets in relentless overnight bombings.

But the helicopters are a game-changer, giving the alliance a key advantage in close-up combat, flying at much lower altitudes.

NATO quoted Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, commander of the Libya operation, as saying the engagement “demonstrates the unique capabilities brought to bear by attack helicopters.”

The strikes came after Libyan rebels on Friday won control of four towns in the western Nafusa mountain range, where government forces have besieged and randomly shelled rebel-held areas for months.

After weeks of siege, government forces drove about seven tanks and a number of armored vehicles into Yifran in early May and surrounded its near neighbor Galaa, Colonel Jumaa Ibrahim of the region’s rebel military council said via Skype.

Fighters who had fled then used their knowledge of area to chip away at the government forces, he said. On Friday, the rebels entered the town to find that the last government forces had fled the day before.

The rebels also pushed government fighters from Shakshuk and Qasr al-Haj, two villages near a key road that runs along the mountain range’s northern edge, Ibrahim said. The latter holds an important power station for local towns.

Ibrahim said rebel forces took the towns on Thursday then moved north to clash with Gaddafi forces in the village of Bir Ayyad on Friday. There were no reports of casualties.

AP