20110418
reuters

RABAT (Reuters) - NATO warplanes launched air strikes on the Libyan capital Tripoli and Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte to the east on Tuesday, state television reported.

In Brussels, NATO said alliance aircraft had attacked command-and-control facilities of the forces of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, including a brigade headquarters south of Tripoli, on Monday night.

Libya's Al Jamahiriya channel said: "The city of Tripoli and Sirte were subject to bombardment by the crusader colonial aggression during the early hours of Tuesday."

A Reuters witness in Tripoli said he had heard no sound of blasts in the capital on Tuesday.

State television added that NATO also bombarded the al-Habra area in the town of al-Aziziyah "a little while ago", without giving details.

A NATO statement said multiple air strikes on Monday night targeted communications infrastructure and the headquarters of Gaddafi's 32nd brigade 10 km (six miles) south of Tripoli.

"NATO will continue its campaign to degrade the Gaddafi regime forces that are involved in the ongoing attacks on civilians," the commander of the NATO operation, Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, said in the statement.