©AFP / Patrick Baz
Kadhafi's troops retreated from Benghazi after strafing by coalition aircraft destroyed much of their armour
With coalition officials expressing satisfaction with progress so far in reducing Kadhafi's defence capabilities, a senior US general said the strikes begun on Saturday night could diminish but the UN-mandated no-fly zone would be spread to the whole country.
"The extension of the no-fly zone ... essentially across the coastal part of the country, almost from boundary to boundary, will enable us to have a greater freedom of movement," General Carter Ham, chief of the US Africa Command, told reporters in Washington on Monday.
"My sense is that unless something unusual or unexpected happens, we may see a decline in the frequency of attacks ... because that's the nature of the types of targets."
Fighting continued on the ground however, as the rebels fighting Kadhafi's forces for more than a month said they were under intense attack in their enclave of Misrata near Tripoli.
©AFP
VIDEO: Kadhafi strongholds bombed as Misrata said overrun. Duration: 00:41
Ham said that US forces had no mission to support a ground offensive by the rebels, who are still weak and disorganised compared with Kadhafi's army.
But at the same time Kadhafi's troops, who almost seized the rebel stronghold of Benghazi before French aircraft intervened to take out their tanks, show "little will or capability to resume offensive operations," he said.
Coalition forces, led by the United States, France and Britain and including a number of other European states and a couple of Arab countries, are acting under a UN Security Council resolution authorising all necessary means to stop Kadhafi's forces harming civilians as they battle the rebellion.
Facts: Coalition of nations take action in Libya
There is coordination but no unified command, and moves to hand over control of the operation to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation are dividing the alliance.
And while US President Barack Obama said on Monday Washington's ultimate goal was the departure of Kadhafi, British Prime Minister David Cameron said there was no legal authority for regime change in Libya.
As darkness fell over Tripoli Monday, loud explosions and anti-aircraft fire ripped across the night sky near Kadhafi's residence, and Libyan state television said the capital had come under attack.
Witnesses said a Libyan navy base some 10 kilometres (six miles) east of the capital was also bombarded late Monday.
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Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a Tripoli news conference that coalition warplanes had targeted the southern town of Sebha, bastion of Kadhafi's Guededfa tribe and home to an important military base.©AFP iactiv
Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya FLASH GRAPHIC
He did not indicate if any damage or casualties had resulted.
Ibrahim also claimed that Misrata, Libya's third city 214 kilometres (132 miles) east of Tripoli, was "liberated three days ago" and that Kadhafi's forces were hunting "terrorist elements."
But a rebel spokesman reached by telephone in Misrata insisted the insurgents remained in control despite an onslaught by Kadhafi loyalists, who he said opened fire with tanks and set snipers on roofs to gun down people in the streets.
A medic in Misrata, speaking by telephone against a background of gunfire, confirmed a death toll of 40 and said at least 300 people had been wounded.
"Casualties fell in their dozens," after snipers and a tank "fired on demonstrators," the rebel spokesman said.
NATO officials said alliance ambassadors were likely to resume talks on Tuesday after "very difficult" discussions on Monday which failed to overcome divisions about a role in the military operation in Libya.
©AFP / Patrick Baz
As rebels massed outside Ajdabiya government troops opened fire with artillery scattering the insurgents
France also has doubts about the impact on Arab countries of NATO taking control -- though the Arab League has backed the no-fly zone -- while Germany refused to vote for UN resolution 1973.
Norway said Monday its six fighter jets would stay grounded as long as it was unclear who was running the operations, while Britain, the United States and Italy, whose air bases are the main platform for missions to Libya, are pushing the strongest for a NATO role.
Belgian and Spanish warplanes began patrolling Libyan skies on Monday, British Typhoon fighters began their first missions from an Italian base and France said its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle should join the operation from Tuesday.
Italian pilots said they had helped suppress air defences, despite Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose country has close ties with former colony Libya, saying Italian planes "are not firing and will not fire."
©AFP/US Navy Visual News Service
US Adm. Samuel J. Locklear (R), speaks with aircrew from the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle
Brent North Sea crude for May was down 18 cents to $114.78.
"Investors are expecting that Libyan oil is not returning to the markets any time soon," said Ong Yi Ling, investment analyst for Phillip Futures in Singapore.
Meanwhile it emerged that three western journalists who went missing in eastern Libya last week, including two from Agence France-Presse, were arrested by Kadhafi's forces.
AFP reporter Dave Clark and photographer Roberto Schmidt, and Getty photographer Joe Raedle, had not been heard from since Friday evening.
Related article: Missing journalists held by Libyan army, says driver
Driver Mohammed Hamed told AFP that on Saturday morning he took the three journalists from Tobruk on the road to Ajdabiya, where Kadhafi loyalists have been fighting eastern rebels.
A few dozen kilometres from Ajdabiya, they encountered a convoy of military jeeps and transport vehicles. They turned around, but were intercepted by the soldiers who caught up with them and forcibly arrested them, the driver said.
Four soldiers ordered the journalists out of their vehicle at gunpoint. Clark, an experienced foreign correspondent, identified themselves in Arabic as journalists, the driver said.
They were then ordered to kneel on the side of the road with their hands on their heads, before being put into a military vehicle and driven away.
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