Question

//I am cloning a dom element and inserting it in dom element multiple times

    <div class='toBeCloned'>some text</div>
    <div id='target'></div>

    var _clone=$('.toBeCloned').clone(true);//create clone
    var _target=$('#target'); //this is target

    _target.append(_clone); //append target
    _target.append(_clone); //append target
    _target.append(_clone); //append target

//this should add 3 elements but it's adding only one

Answer 1

append is a bit odd here – it moves the element, but it might also clone it if you append it to more than one element (eg $(div).append will clone the element for every div).
If you want to create 3 elements, simply call clone 3 times:

var _clone=$('.toBeCloned');
var _target=$('#target'); //this is target

for(var i=0;i<3;i++){
    _target.append(_clone.clone(true)); //append target, clone every time
}