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Libyan rebels said on Friday they had seized a key oil refinery town in some of the heaviest fighting of the rebellion that left "many dead, a claim denied by a senior government official.
With claim and counter-claim shifting with the battle lines in the North African country's desert sands, Venezuela said Libya had given it a green light to form a peace mission, a move already rejected by the rebels.
The fighting centred on the town of Raslanuf, where hundreds of jubilant rebels cheered and fired into the air late on Friday, saying they were in control.
An AFP reporter saw rebels positioned outside the Harouge Oil Operations compound, at the military barracks, police station and at the gates to a nearby residential area.
But in Tripoli the deputy foreign minister in Muammar al-Gaddafi's government, Khaled Kaaim, said "the government controls it: in Raslanuf, everything is calm."
Earlier a government source admitted that Braga, between Raslanuf and the rebel headquarters of Benghazi, was in rebel hands, only to be swiftly contradicted by a colleague, who said fighting there was still ongoing.
Rasnaluf is 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of Sirte, the Libyan strongman's hometown.
Heavy explosions and machine-gun fire could be heard in the desert 10 kilometres (six miles) east of Raslanuf, as truckloads of armed insurgents headed in that direction accompanied by ambulances.
"They are firing Grad rockets. I saw four people killed in front of me. A rocket hit them," said a rebel, who gave his name as Marai.
Meanwhile, state television said earlier Gaddafi's forces had wrested control of Zawiyah, 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of Tripoli and the location of a major oil refinery.
But a government official later said "pockets of resistance" remained, and a local politician vehemently denied the television report and said opposition forces were still in control of the town.
British Sky News journalist Alex Crawford said the town was "under siege" by Gaddafi's army and that residents feared an attack.
"They fear that they are going to be attacked tonight and they are digging in to try to defend themselves," Crawford said.
In an earlier television report from a hospital in Zawiyah, she said at least three people had died and there were up to 50 people wounded, seven of them critically. Two children were among those hurt.
Crawford said thousands of protesters, mainly unarmed, "were marching towards the military lines when the army opened fire using tanks, weapons. They fired several times, repeatedly at the protesters and they also used machine gun fire".
"A number of the protesters were hit and we're now in the hospital where a number of them have got bullet wounds to the back. Several ambulances were called and they were fired on as well," she said.
A doctor treating rebel casualties from fighting in Rasnaluf said there were "many dead and wounded," particularly from rocket fire, in the assault on the town.
"We saw people dying everywhere," a rebel volunteer, Abdul Rauf, told AFP on his way back from the front in a bloodstained vehicle.
In another incident, at least 19 people were killed and dozens wounded when twin blasts ripped through a weapons depot at the Al-Rajma military base, southeast of Benghazi, doctors said.
The cause of the explosions was not immediately clear, but most residents ruled out an air strike by Gaddafi loyalists.
Resident Abdallah Bubakr told AFP rebels turned up at the base demanding weapons to take to the front at Raslanuf.
"Two cars rode up with people at the place and said they wanted weapons to take to Raslanuf. They entered the store and just after they left Rajma, there was the first explosion, followed five minutes later by another," he said.
In Tripoli, meanwhile, police fired tear gas at around 100 anti-regime demonstrators in the Tajoura district of the capital after Friday prayers, a witness said. Another said opponents and supporters of the regime traded blows near the capital's Green Square.
Oil prices soared again because of the unrest. New York's light sweet crude for April delivery briefly surged past $104 a barrel to the highest level for two and a half years, while world powers watched anxiously, stymied by the need to act in unison against the Libyan strongman.
The European Union warned it could deploy warships to enforce an arms embargo on his country, while urging Tripoli that humanitarian workers be allowed into the country.
Venezuela's foreign minister said the peace mediation mission, already flatly rejected by a spokesman for the rebels, would be made up of "active and influential states of Latin America, Asia and Africa".
He said it would have the aim of "helping promote national dialogue with the aim of achieving security and stability for the Libyan people".
Nicolas Maduro, reading from a letter from his Libyan counterpart, said "we authorise you to take the necessary measures to select the members and coordinate their participation in this dialogue."
The UN refugee agency said Friday that fewer than 2,000 people had crossed the border into Tunisia on Thursday, compared with between 10,000 and 15,000 on previous days, citing the presence of heavily armed Gaddafi forces.
Those who did manage to cross told the UNHCR "their mobile phones had been confiscated en route, along with cameras," spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in Geneva. "Many of those who have crossed the border appear to be frightened and are unwilling to speak."
Meanwhile, in Yemen, troops killed four protesters and wounded seven in the north of the country as nationwide protests raged against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
But in Egypt new Prime Minister Essam Sharaf was cheered by crowds in Cairo as he promised to "exert all my effort to respond to your demands" and a referendum on constitutional change was set for March 19.
In Iraq, thousands of protesters massed in cities and towns across the country for rallies against corruption, unemployment and poor public services.
But the demonstrations were markedly smaller than those in more than a dozen cities a week ago, spurring Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to give his cabinet 100 days to shape up or face the sack.
And thousands of Jordanians also demonstrated on Friday in Amman to demand "regime reforms," a day after Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit rejected calls for a constitutional monarchy.
With claim and counter-claim shifting with the battle lines in the North African country's desert sands, Venezuela said Libya had given it a green light to form a peace mission, a move already rejected by the rebels.
The fighting centred on the town of Raslanuf, where hundreds of jubilant rebels cheered and fired into the air late on Friday, saying they were in control.
An AFP reporter saw rebels positioned outside the Harouge Oil Operations compound, at the military barracks, police station and at the gates to a nearby residential area.
But in Tripoli the deputy foreign minister in Muammar al-Gaddafi's government, Khaled Kaaim, said "the government controls it: in Raslanuf, everything is calm."
Earlier a government source admitted that Braga, between Raslanuf and the rebel headquarters of Benghazi, was in rebel hands, only to be swiftly contradicted by a colleague, who said fighting there was still ongoing.
Rasnaluf is 200 kilometres (120 miles) east of Sirte, the Libyan strongman's hometown.
Heavy explosions and machine-gun fire could be heard in the desert 10 kilometres (six miles) east of Raslanuf, as truckloads of armed insurgents headed in that direction accompanied by ambulances.
"They are firing Grad rockets. I saw four people killed in front of me. A rocket hit them," said a rebel, who gave his name as Marai.
Meanwhile, state television said earlier Gaddafi's forces had wrested control of Zawiyah, 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of Tripoli and the location of a major oil refinery.
But a government official later said "pockets of resistance" remained, and a local politician vehemently denied the television report and said opposition forces were still in control of the town.
British Sky News journalist Alex Crawford said the town was "under siege" by Gaddafi's army and that residents feared an attack.
"They fear that they are going to be attacked tonight and they are digging in to try to defend themselves," Crawford said.
In an earlier television report from a hospital in Zawiyah, she said at least three people had died and there were up to 50 people wounded, seven of them critically. Two children were among those hurt.
Crawford said thousands of protesters, mainly unarmed, "were marching towards the military lines when the army opened fire using tanks, weapons. They fired several times, repeatedly at the protesters and they also used machine gun fire".
"A number of the protesters were hit and we're now in the hospital where a number of them have got bullet wounds to the back. Several ambulances were called and they were fired on as well," she said.
A doctor treating rebel casualties from fighting in Rasnaluf said there were "many dead and wounded," particularly from rocket fire, in the assault on the town.
"We saw people dying everywhere," a rebel volunteer, Abdul Rauf, told AFP on his way back from the front in a bloodstained vehicle.
In another incident, at least 19 people were killed and dozens wounded when twin blasts ripped through a weapons depot at the Al-Rajma military base, southeast of Benghazi, doctors said.
The cause of the explosions was not immediately clear, but most residents ruled out an air strike by Gaddafi loyalists.
Resident Abdallah Bubakr told AFP rebels turned up at the base demanding weapons to take to the front at Raslanuf.
"Two cars rode up with people at the place and said they wanted weapons to take to Raslanuf. They entered the store and just after they left Rajma, there was the first explosion, followed five minutes later by another," he said.
In Tripoli, meanwhile, police fired tear gas at around 100 anti-regime demonstrators in the Tajoura district of the capital after Friday prayers, a witness said. Another said opponents and supporters of the regime traded blows near the capital's Green Square.
Oil prices soared again because of the unrest. New York's light sweet crude for April delivery briefly surged past $104 a barrel to the highest level for two and a half years, while world powers watched anxiously, stymied by the need to act in unison against the Libyan strongman.
The European Union warned it could deploy warships to enforce an arms embargo on his country, while urging Tripoli that humanitarian workers be allowed into the country.
Venezuela's foreign minister said the peace mediation mission, already flatly rejected by a spokesman for the rebels, would be made up of "active and influential states of Latin America, Asia and Africa".
He said it would have the aim of "helping promote national dialogue with the aim of achieving security and stability for the Libyan people".
Nicolas Maduro, reading from a letter from his Libyan counterpart, said "we authorise you to take the necessary measures to select the members and coordinate their participation in this dialogue."
The UN refugee agency said Friday that fewer than 2,000 people had crossed the border into Tunisia on Thursday, compared with between 10,000 and 15,000 on previous days, citing the presence of heavily armed Gaddafi forces.
Those who did manage to cross told the UNHCR "their mobile phones had been confiscated en route, along with cameras," spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in Geneva. "Many of those who have crossed the border appear to be frightened and are unwilling to speak."
Meanwhile, in Yemen, troops killed four protesters and wounded seven in the north of the country as nationwide protests raged against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
But in Egypt new Prime Minister Essam Sharaf was cheered by crowds in Cairo as he promised to "exert all my effort to respond to your demands" and a referendum on constitutional change was set for March 19.
In Iraq, thousands of protesters massed in cities and towns across the country for rallies against corruption, unemployment and poor public services.
But the demonstrations were markedly smaller than those in more than a dozen cities a week ago, spurring Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to give his cabinet 100 days to shape up or face the sack.
And thousands of Jordanians also demonstrated on Friday in Amman to demand "regime reforms," a day after Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit rejected calls for a constitutional monarchy.
