A U.S. unmanned Predator drone bombed a rocket launcher of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces in Misrata on Saturday, NATO said in a statement.

"The strike was carried out by a Predator Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (UAS) weapons system provided to support Operation Unified Protector. The rocket launcher has been used against civilians in Misrata," the statement said.

Earlier Saturday, the U.S. military confirmed the first strike by a Predator drone in Libya, two days after the U.S. authorized the use of armed Predator drones to attack Libya government forces.

The deployment of armed Predators, which are capable of bombing targets more easily in urban areas, is to counter Gaddafi forces' new tactics of hiding tanks in cities and using human shields.

According to the statement, NATO has kept up a high operational tempo since it assumed full command of the mission on March 31, launching over 3,000 sorties, almost half of them strike ones.