Coalition forces attack Moammar Gadhafi`s hometown

American and European forces launched a third wave of air strikes in Libya Monday night, targeting an airport in Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi`s hometown of Sirte.

Sirte is also home to air defense units, a naval base of pro-government forces, and other major facilities.

Gadhafi`s office in Tripoli was also reportedly attacked but the extent of damage and the whereabouts of the maligned dictator remain unknown.

American, French and British forces unleashed a barrage of cruise missiles at a naval base of pro-Gadhafi forces located 10 kilometers east of Tripoli. Coalition forces also attacked the southern town of Sabha, which is heavily populated by Gadhafi`s tribe.

Around 9 p.m., explosions and anti-aircraft fire were heard in and around Tripoli, foreign news reports said. The Arab news network Al-Jazeera said Monday that coalition forces attacked two Libyan radar bases in eastern Benghazi.

Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told reporters that foreign attacks killed many people by bombing ports and an airport in Gadhafi’s hometown of Sirte.

Despite the continued air strikes, however, Gadhafi’s forces launched an intense attack to capture the city of Misratah near Tripoli, according to anti-Gaddafi forces.

Coalition forces said the same day that a no-fly zone set over skies within a radius of 643 kilometers of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi will be expanded to 1,000 kilometers to include Tripoli.

Gen. Carter Ham, who leads the coalition forces in Operation Odyssey Dawn, said from the U.S. Africa Command task force headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, “I anticipate the no-fly zone will soon extend to Brega, Misratah, then to Tripoli. That`s about a thousand kilometers, so it`s a pretty wide area.”

“We are developing the process by which we transition the lead for military operations to a designated headquarters. We will accomplish that transition as expeditiously as we possibly can.”

Ham said he knew little about the location of the Libyan leader, however.

taylor55@donga.com