A Royal Air Force Tornado made an emergency landing in Malta yesterday afternoon after reporting a technical emergency. This is the first time during the Libya crisis that a British aircraft has made an emergency diversion to Malta. There have been a number of others by French, American and Danish aircraft. The RAF flies to Libya from bases in Italy and Cyprus. Sources said more than 15,000 sorties by military aircraft have flown over Maltese controlled airspace since February, when the Libya conflict erupted.

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