Western coalition air strikes hit civilian and military areas in the Libyan towns of Garyan and Mizdah, both within 200 kilometers from the capital of Tripoli.

U.S. Admiral Bill Gortney said that the coalition forces had attacked the command headquarters of one of Gadhafi's most loyal units, which has been one of the most active attacking civilians.

Open gallery view Western coalition forces bombarding Libya. Credit: Reuters

Gortney, the director of the U.S. military's Joint Staff, told reporters the coalition had fired six Tomahawk cruise missiles in the past 24 hours and had carried out 178 air sorties, most of them strike-related aimed at Gadhafi's military.

He said the U.S. had no confirmed report of any civilian casualty caused by coalition forces since it began enforcing a UN resolution authorizing military action to protect Libyan civilians from attacks by Gadhafi's forces.

The strikes came hours after a NATO spokesman said that the alliance should have complete command of military operations in Libya "in a couple of days", but saw no military solution to the crisis and hoped for a political settlement.

NATO agreed on Sunday to take over all operations in Libya, putting the 28-nation alliance in charge of air strikes that have targeted Gadhafi's military infrastructure, as well as a no-fly zone and an arms embargo.

NATO officials said planning foresaw a 90-day operation, but they said the timetable would depend on the United Nations.

"It's planned for 90 days, but it doesn't mean it's limited to 90 days," one official said. "It's up to the United Nations to tell us how long they want us to do it for."

A conference of 35 nations meeting in London on Tuesday was expected to set out the "broad political lines" for a peaceful solution in Libya. One possible precedent would be the multinational force established for Bosnia in the 1990s.

All NATO's 28 member states are expected to participate in the Libya operation, directly or indirectly, NATO chief spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said.

Meanwhile, fighting between rebels and forces loyal to leader Muammer Gadhafi continued in Libya's third largest city, Misrata, on Monday despite a government declaration of cease-fire against what it called "terrorist groups" in the area.

A government spokesman said that Gadhafi forces had seized part of Misrata, while part of the city while the rest was under rebel control.

