More than 150 people have been rescued from Libya by the UK Special Forces. Those holding British passports are expected to return to the UK some time today. The mission was sanctioned by the government and saw SAS and SBS members fly into Libya on board three RAF Hercules planes. The aim was to get to those who have been stranded in the more remote parts of the country.

Dr Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, confirmed that three C130 Hercules had been used to evacuate people from a number of locations across the Libyan desert. He added that those rescued are from a number of nations and all have been flown to Malta where they received food and medical attention.

It is understood that members of the Special Forces flew into Libya as the violence started to erupt disguised and businessmen. Once on the ground they were able to get weapons from the British embassy and figure out how best to extract foreign nationals from the remoter parts of the country.

One of the Brits rescued described how the Hercules he was on had to take off amid gunfire. Nigel Bilton, who was working in the south of the country for Siemens, said things were beginning to hot up as shots were fired and around 30 people were hurriedly added to the aircraft.

The Foreign Office has made an appeal to any Brits still inside Libya to get in contact so that it can work out if further rescue operations are required.