Libya: Gaddafi forces seize eastern town Brega
Anti-Gaddafi forces have been firmly in charge of eastern libya up to Brega, since shortly after protests erupted in the country last month.Mohamed Yousef, an officer in the town of Ajdabiyah, about 75 miles from Brega, said: "It's true. There was aerial bombardment of Brega and Gaddafi's forces have taken it."
There were also reports that fighter jets had been deployed to bomb the cities of Ajdabiya and Az Zawiyah. Witnesses said they saw two warplanes bomb the eastern part of Ajdabiya, while they also claimed pro-Gaddafi forces were advancing on the town, some 470 miles east of Tripoli.
Gaddafi's forces meanwhile battled poorly armed rebels for control of towns near the capital trying to create a buffer zone around his seat of power. The increasingly violent clashes threatened to transform the 15-day popular rebellion in Libya into a drawn-out civil war.
Gaddafi's regime has retaken at least two towns and threatened a third, while rebels repulsed attacks on three other key areas — Misrata to the east, Zawiya to the west, and the mountain town of Zintan to the south of the capital.
A petrol tanker meanwhile exploded near the compound of Gaddafi in Tripoli. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear but there appeared to be no casualties.
The international community has stepped up moves to isolate the longtime Libyan leader.
Two US warships were heading towards Libya on Wednesday as the West started flexing its military muscle and rebels fighting Gaddafi's regime began organising the trappings of parallel government.
David Cameron continued to increase the pressure on Gaddafi by warning that Britain should negotiate with opposition groups. He said that, if the Libyan regime started “murdering” its people with aircraft, plans should be in place to “do something to stop that”.
Military leaders weighing a no-fly zone over Libya said it would be a complex task that would require taking out Gaddafi's air defences, and Russia dismissed the idea as "superfluous" and said world powers should focus on sanctions.
Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, warned Western forces not to take military action against Libya and said the country is prepared to defend itself against foreign intervention.
"If they attack us, we are ready," he told Sky News, adding that the Gaddafis are ready to implement reforms.
Facing an unprecedented challenge to his 41-year rule, Gaddafi's regime has launched the bloodiest crackdown in a wave of uprising against authoritarian rulers in the Middle East.
An exact death toll has been difficult to obtain in the chaos, but a medical committee in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the uprising began on Feb. 15, said at least 228 people had been killed, including 30 unidentified bodies, and 1,932 wounded
