Gunfire erupts in Tripoli as Libya battles rage
Updated
Rebels say they remain in full control of Benghazi (AFP: Roberto Schmidt)
Rebels have been quick to dismiss reports that forces loyal to Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi have recaptured a string of key towns, as heavy gunfire rocked the capital Tripoli.
With battles raging east and west of Tripoli and thousands fleeing the violence, loyalist forces have been accused of a massacre during an assault on a key city.
Meanwhile, Britian's Sunday Times newspaper is reporting that British special forces unit is being held by rebels in Benghazi.
There are conflicting reports coming from Libya surrounding intense gunfire that has been heard in Tripoli.
As dawn broke over the capital, machine gunfire and the sound of heavy weaponry could be heard, the first such outbreak in Mr Gaddafi's main stronghold.
Machine gun volleys, some of them heavy calibre, were reverberating around central Tripoli, along with ambulance sirens, pro-Gaddafi chants, whistling and a cacophony of car horns as vehicles sped through the vicinity.
The Libyan government says the gunfire heard in Tripoli is in celebration of the advance by government forces.
"I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, there is no fighting going on in Tripoli," said spokesman Mussa Ibrahim.
"Everything is safe. Tripoli is 100 per cent under control. What you are hearing is celebratory fireworks. People are in the streets, dancing in the square."
He warned, however: "I would like to advise not to go there for your safety."
Rawad, a resident of Tripoli, says the gunfire is constant.
"I hear a lot of gunshots. It's been three hours now... constantly, constantly shooting, irrationally," he said.
"It is a sort of mess at the moment here in the capital. It's very crazy, very crazy."
Conflicting reports
State television says pro-Gaddafi forces have recaptured the key oil towns of Tobruk and Ras Lanuf and are headed toward the biggest rebel stronghold, the city of Benghazi.
But rebels in the area say they remain in full control and report no such offensive by Libyan forces.
"It's not true. The region is under control from Ajdabiya to the Egyptian border," said Fateh Faraj, a member of the rebel-appointed council in Tobruk.
He says the situation is calm and that "absolutely nothing" is happening.
A British special forces unit reportedly captured by rebels in the east of the country is believed to have been taken to Benghazi and hauled up before a senior figure.
The group of eight soldiers were apparently on a secret diplomatic mission to make contact with opposition leaders.
The Sunday Times says the team were intercepted as they escorted a junior diplomat through rebel-held territory.
The uninvited appearance of special forces alongside the diplomat "angered Libyan opposition figures who ordered the soldiers to be locked up on a military base," the newspaper said.
The British Foreign Office says it can not "confirm or deny" the report.
Two air strikes have now hit the rebel-held oil port town of Ras Lanuf, triggering anti-aircraft fire from near a checkpoint on the eastern edge.
A journalist saw two craters in the sand near the checkpoint and smoke rising into the air in the eastern town.
"There were two rockets. There are no injuries, no damage," said Abdal Sharif, one of the rebels fighting the regime of Mr Gaddafi.
Libyan rebels are also advancing from the east on Mr Gaddafi's hometown, Sirte, around 500 km from Tripoli, and clinging to positions in a western town near the capital after withstanding two armoured assaults by government forces.
'Real massacre'
A doctor in Zawiya, some 50 kilometres west of Tripoli, says at least 30 people, mostly civilians, were killed during fighting on Saturday that wrecked the town centre, raising to at least 60 the death toll from two days of battles.
The doctor accused Gaddafi loyalists of committing a massacre by raining tank shells and machine gun fire on residents.
"This was a real massacre. The situation is catastrophic. They killed many people. They killed my daughter," he said.
"What happened this morning is horrible. The mercenaries opened fire on anyone who dared go outdoors, even on children."
There were reports that tanks manned by Mr Gaddafi's forces had fired on houses when they launched a fresh assault to capture the city.
The rebels say they are bracing for another tank and artillery attack by the government on Sunday.
- ABC/wires
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