Source:AFP
€1516 GMT This just in from AFP's Elodie Le Mahou, reporting from the Tunisia-Libya border...
"Swarms of Bangladeshis have gathered near the Choucha refugee camp, carrying packages on their heads. The reason: a rumour that mass repatriations are to take place."
1514 GMT AFP correspondent Antoine Lambroschini says two groups of journalists were arrested today trying to get to Zawiyah, west of Tripoli, where there are reports of renewed fighting.
On Saturday 11 journalists -- one of them Lambroschini -- had been held for seven hours by the army.
1500 GMT Pro-Gaddafi security forces are bombarding the city of Zawiya from the east and west, and plumes of smoke are rising from the main square, Al-Jazeera says.
The Libyan Human Rights Solidarity said there had been heavy fighting on Monday morning, and that the rebels had captured some government troops who "admitted that they had been instructed of the need to recapture the city before Wednesday", Reuters has reported.
1450 GMT Al-Jazeera and Reuters news agencies are both now reporting new clashes in the western Libyan city of Zawiya.
1445 GMT More on the comments from the NATO Secretary General... he added that "NATO has no intention to intervene in Libya," despite intensive "prudent planning" for "any eventuality."
He also stressed repeatedly that action would require a United Nations Security Council mandate:
"I take note of the fact the current UN mandate doesn't authorise the use of armed force," Rasmussen said, adding that the imposition of a no-fly zone was "a very comprehensive undertaking (that) will require a wide range of military assets."
1402 GMT Attacks against civilians in Libya may amount to "crimes against humanity", NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has told reporters in Brussels.
"These widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity," Rasmussen told a news conference at NATO headquarters. He said the "outrageous" response of Kadhafi's regime to the protests had created "a human crisis on our doorstep which concerns us all".
"I can't imagine the international community and the UN standing idly by if Colonel Kadhafi and his regime continue to attack his own people systematically," he added.
1343 GMT Meanwhile, in Tripoli the scene "appeared relatively calm" on Monday, CNN reported, in contrast to the raucous pro-Gadhafi demonstrations in the Libyan capital on Sunday, accompanied by gunfire.
Several hundred expatriates from Mali -- many of them migrant workers -- were gathered outside Mali's embassy in Tripoli, seeking assistance in getting out of Libya, the news channel reported.
1330 GMT In Libya, opposition forces moving westwards from Benghazi have been held up by fighting from government troops around Bin Jawad, the BBC reports.
"The situation has stabilised now," says the BBC's John Simpson, from nearby Ras Lanuf. "The rebels have sent in more heavy weapons and reinforcements, although they do not match the numbers that are leaving. It looks as though they are just going to hold the position at Ras Lanuf. There has been quite a lot of bombardment here over the past couple of hours."
1308 GMT Elswhere in the Arab world popular protests continue in Egypt, Algeria, Yemen and Bahrain. Here are some of the latest developments...
-- Dozens of activists protested at the US embassy in Manama on Monday, calling for Washington to press Bahraini authorities for democratic reform after weeks of demonstrations.
-- Omani protesters demanding a clampdown on corruption in the Gulf state have maintained their vigils despite the sacking of two ministers and pledges to create jobs.
-- Armed civilians in Egypt attacked hundreds of protesters outside the state security headquarters in Cairo on Sunday, as the army fired warning shots and used sticks to disperse the crowd, witnesses said.
-- Thousands of community policemen have been rallying in Algeria to demand a pay raise, breaking through heavy security to reach parliament in a rare mass show of dissent in the tightly controlled country.
1256 GMT More from the doctor in Misrata who says: Sunday's fighting "went on all day, from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm (0500 GMT to 1600 GMT)."
"They fired on civilians and on buildings," he adds. "The rebels responded and managed to kick Kadhafi's forces out of town." He also tells AFP that regime loyalists used an ambulance to open fire on people and opened fire on another ambulance.
The United Nations has demanded urgent access to "injured and dying" in Misrata after it was shelled by Kadhafi's troops.
1246 GMT Twenty-one people, including a child, were killed and dozens wounded in Libya's rebel-held city of Misrata during clashes and shelling by Kadhafi's forces on Sunday, a doctor tells AFP.
"There were 21 martyrs. The toll could go up. There are 91 wounded, including nine in a serious condition," the doctor tells AFP by telephone from Libya's third-largest city, reluctant to give his name for security reasons. "The overwhelming majority of them are civilians, including a boy aged two and a half. I don't know what weapon it was but it wasn't gunfire."
1224 GMT Updates from other news services elsewhere in the country today... The western Libyan city of Misrata is still under control of opposition forces, opposition spokesman Abdel Basset Abu Zouriq, tells Al Jazeera.
A doctor in Misrata, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting, tells the BBC World Service that pro-Kadhafi forces have destroyed pharmacies and attacked the hospital and mosques there.
1210 GMT Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa told French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe that the grouping backed the idea when the pair met in Cairo on Sunday, foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters.
"Mr Musa confirmed the support of the Arab League for a no-fly zone," Valero said.
1203 GMT Meanwhile, this from AFP in Paris... France has said the Arab League supports imposing a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Moamer Kadhafi's government forces attacking rebels.
1159 GMT From Ras Lanuf, AFP's Selim Sahab Ettaba describes confusion among rebels over their next move, with some saying they were retrenching, while others said they were resuming their advance.
"We're going to Bin Jawad," said Adel Mohammed al-Arred, a defected army captain. "We're waiting here till we hear from people in Bin Jawad that all the families have left, then we will attack."
But Salahuddin Mohammed al-Sultani, a former policeman from Benghazi, said: "We are going to wait here. We are not going east. It's a Kadhafi ploy for us to leave the oil fields."
Another rebel said they were awaiting orders from the National Council.
1139 GMT More from the outskirts of Ras Lanuf where a second air strike earlier targeted Libyan rebels who returned a stream of machine-gun fire.
AFP's reporter on the eastern outskirts of Ras Lanuf heard a fighter jet screech low through the sky and saw a huge plume of smoke about 400 metres (yards) from the rebels' checkpoint and about 50 metres from the main desert road. Rebels unleashed a volley of return fire as others piled into vans and cars, racing off to inspect whether there was any damage.
An earlier air strike took place further away from the checkpoint, in the desert, about two kilometres (one mile) east of the town which now appears deserted.
1129 GMT Former Jordanian foreign minister Abdul Ilah Khatib -- named on Sunday as UN special envoy for humanitarian affairs in Libya -- will meet all sides in the conflict, AFP reports from Amman.
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky, announcing Khatib's appointment, said he would have "urgent consultations" with Kadhafi's government on the growing battle with rebel forces and work on the humanitarian crisis it has caused. His associate in Amman said, "He will coordinate humanitarian aid and means to find a solution to the crisis in Libya."
Khatib, 56, will leave for New York "in the next few days before travelling to Libya, where he should meet with all parties involved in the conflict," the source added.
1123 GMT A French warship sent to evacuate nearly a thousand Egyptian refugees fleeing Libya has arrived at Tunisia's Zarzis port only to find they have already left, a naval officer says.
The hi-tech Mistral helicopter-carrier had left on Saturday from the southern port of Toulon to repatriate around 900 Egyptians who had crossed into Tunisia from Libya and bring them to the Egyptian port of Alexandria. But soon after the ship dropped anchor spokesman for the French navy Lieutenant Thierry Delorme announced that it would "not be taking" refugees and would be leaving the same day.
Most of the Egyptians had already left by plane, impatient to reach their homeland
1108 GMT Italy has begun discreet talks with the Libyan "National Council" leading the armed revolt against Moamer Kadhafi, to help find a solution to the crisis, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has announced.
"We have better contacts than others" in Libya, which is an ex-Italian colony, Frattini told RAI 1 television. "We know the former justice minister who is now head of the provisional Council of Benghazi, and that network of Libyan ambassadors that have said they are now at the service of the people, not the regime. Some of them are now moving to reach an agreement. We are too, but discreetly. I think that's the best solution."
1104 GMT Ras Lanuf itself is now eerily deserted, journalists there say after vehicles loaded with armed rebels sped out of the town early this morning.
"The remaining rebel presence appeared very thin, only about a dozen fighters manning the main checkpoint into the town," AFP reports. Staff at the only hotel evacuated guests -- mostly journalists -- early this morning, knocking on doors, shouting "emergency, emergency, you should leave". They said they had heard there would be a battle for the town.
1056 GMT A second air strike has targeted Libyan rebels east of the oil town Ras Lanuf, with rebels returning a barrage of anti-aircraft machine gun fire, an AFP correspondent reports from the ground.
1053 GMT Protests continue elsewhere in the region today... in Algeria thousands of community police officers are rallying to demand higher wages.
An AFP journalist says some of the estimated 10,000 protesters have broken through heavy security cordons to reach parliament. Those protesting are officers who provide police services in Algerian villages, while regular police have been despatched to the scene of the protest and are surrounding them.
1040 GMT World oil prices have shot higher, striking 2.5 year highs as a result of the turmoil in Libya and the Middle East, analysts say.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, hit $106.45 a barrel -- the highest level since September 2008. It later stood at $106.10, up $1.68 compared with Friday's close. In London, Brent North Sea crude for April climbed $1.02 to $116.99.
"Oil prices continue to be on the uptrend primarily due to the deepening conflict in Libya and concerns about the protests spreading to other parts of the Middle East's oil-producing region," Victor Shum at international energy consultants Purvin and Gertz tells AFP.
1021 GMT The United Nations is calling for $160 million (114 million euros) to cover the needs of those who have fled Libya as well as others who remain trapped in the strife-torn north African country, AFP reports from Geneva.
The appeal is expected to cover relief support including shelter, food, transportation, water and sanitation for up to one million people for the next three months.
"This appeal is based on planning scenario projecting up to 400,000 people leaving Libya -- including the 200,000 who have left to date -- and another 600,000 people inside Libya expected to need humanitarian aid to varying degrees," said UN aid chief Valerie Amos.
1010 GMT The Guardian's Martin Chulov writes on Twitter: "Reflections on libya 18 days in. Regime toppled but dictator remains. Opposite in egypt where regime remains but dictator gone."
1007 GMT Eleven boats carrying close to 850 immigrants -- mostly Tunisians -- arrived early this morning on the Italian island of Lampedusa, the coastguard tells AFP, while another carrying around 100 people has been spotted by police from the air.
The new arrivals joined around 100 migrants who had arrived by sea from Tunisia over the weekend.
0958 GMT The death toll from the Sunday's violence in Bin Jawad continues to rise, according to the latest hospital figures.
At least 12 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in clashes between Libyan rebels and Kadhafi supporters in the coastal hamlet, AFP reports from Ajdabiya, where many of the injured were taken for hospital treatment. A hospital in Ras Lanuf, which was closest to the fighting, is now "utterly deserted", our correspondent says.
0946 GMT To recap on earlier events in Ras Lanuf... residents began leaving the town early this morning and were seen heading in convoy towards the Mediterranean coastal town of Brega.
"We heard that they are arresting and kidnapping people and we have to leave now," a father driving a silver sedan with two children in the back told an AFP reporter.
0933 GMT An air strike has targeted Libyan rebels east of the oil town Ras Lanuf, where fighters opened fire with anti-aircraft guns following an explosion, an AFP reporter on the ground says.
Our correspondent, who is at a checkpoint on the eastern outskirts of Ras Lanuf, saw an explosion and a big cloud of smoke on the horizon, about two kilometres (one mile) east of the town in the desert. All six anti-aircraft guns at the checkpoint then opened a barrage of fire into the sky and rebels started jumping up and chanting, he reports.
Libyan warplanes have carried out numerous air strikes targeting rebel positions, but have almost entirely missed their targets.
Welcome to the AFP live report on events in Libya. Here's a brief summary of the key developments at 0920 GMT on Monday...
-- Residents of the oil town of Ras Lanuf, after a bitter defeat in nearby Bin Jawad, were seen fleeing eastwards by car towards the rebel-held town of Brega.
-- Pro-Kadhafi forces on Sunday had also thwarted a rebel advance on the Libyan leader's hometown of Sirte and carried out deadly attacks on the western city of Misrata.
-- The UN is sending a "humanitarian assessment" team to Libya along with a special envoy to undertake "urgent consultations" with the Tripoli government, Ban Ki-moon said.
-- The US is coming under mounting pressure to arm the rebels amid charges that Washington missed chances to oust Kadhafi in the early days of the popular uprising.
Follow this report for all the latest news on the conflict as it unfolds.
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€1516 GMT This just in from AFP's Elodie Le Mahou, reporting from the Tunisia-Libya border...
"Swarms of Bangladeshis have gathered near the Choucha refugee camp, carrying packages on their heads. The reason: a rumour that mass repatriations are to take place."
1514 GMT AFP correspondent Antoine Lambroschini says two groups of journalists were arrested today trying to get to Zawiyah, west of Tripoli, where there are reports of renewed fighting.
On Saturday 11 journalists -- one of them Lambroschini -- had been held for seven hours by the army.
1500 GMT Pro-Gaddafi security forces are bombarding the city of Zawiya from the east and west, and plumes of smoke are rising from the main square, Al-Jazeera says.
The Libyan Human Rights Solidarity said there had been heavy fighting on Monday morning, and that the rebels had captured some government troops who "admitted that they had been instructed of the need to recapture the city before Wednesday", Reuters has reported.
1450 GMT Al-Jazeera and Reuters news agencies are both now reporting new clashes in the western Libyan city of Zawiya.
1445 GMT More on the comments from the NATO Secretary General... he added that "NATO has no intention to intervene in Libya," despite intensive "prudent planning" for "any eventuality."
He also stressed repeatedly that action would require a United Nations Security Council mandate:
"I take note of the fact the current UN mandate doesn't authorise the use of armed force," Rasmussen said, adding that the imposition of a no-fly zone was "a very comprehensive undertaking (that) will require a wide range of military assets."
1402 GMT Attacks against civilians in Libya may amount to "crimes against humanity", NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has told reporters in Brussels.
"These widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population may amount to crimes against humanity," Rasmussen told a news conference at NATO headquarters. He said the "outrageous" response of Kadhafi's regime to the protests had created "a human crisis on our doorstep which concerns us all".
"I can't imagine the international community and the UN standing idly by if Colonel Kadhafi and his regime continue to attack his own people systematically," he added.
1343 GMT Meanwhile, in Tripoli the scene "appeared relatively calm" on Monday, CNN reported, in contrast to the raucous pro-Gadhafi demonstrations in the Libyan capital on Sunday, accompanied by gunfire.
Several hundred expatriates from Mali -- many of them migrant workers -- were gathered outside Mali's embassy in Tripoli, seeking assistance in getting out of Libya, the news channel reported.
1330 GMT In Libya, opposition forces moving westwards from Benghazi have been held up by fighting from government troops around Bin Jawad, the BBC reports.
"The situation has stabilised now," says the BBC's John Simpson, from nearby Ras Lanuf. "The rebels have sent in more heavy weapons and reinforcements, although they do not match the numbers that are leaving. It looks as though they are just going to hold the position at Ras Lanuf. There has been quite a lot of bombardment here over the past couple of hours."
1308 GMT Elswhere in the Arab world popular protests continue in Egypt, Algeria, Yemen and Bahrain. Here are some of the latest developments...
-- Dozens of activists protested at the US embassy in Manama on Monday, calling for Washington to press Bahraini authorities for democratic reform after weeks of demonstrations.
-- Omani protesters demanding a clampdown on corruption in the Gulf state have maintained their vigils despite the sacking of two ministers and pledges to create jobs.
-- Armed civilians in Egypt attacked hundreds of protesters outside the state security headquarters in Cairo on Sunday, as the army fired warning shots and used sticks to disperse the crowd, witnesses said.
-- Thousands of community policemen have been rallying in Algeria to demand a pay raise, breaking through heavy security to reach parliament in a rare mass show of dissent in the tightly controlled country.
1256 GMT More from the doctor in Misrata who says: Sunday's fighting "went on all day, from 7.00 am to 6.00 pm (0500 GMT to 1600 GMT)."
"They fired on civilians and on buildings," he adds. "The rebels responded and managed to kick Kadhafi's forces out of town." He also tells AFP that regime loyalists used an ambulance to open fire on people and opened fire on another ambulance.
The United Nations has demanded urgent access to "injured and dying" in Misrata after it was shelled by Kadhafi's troops.
1246 GMT Twenty-one people, including a child, were killed and dozens wounded in Libya's rebel-held city of Misrata during clashes and shelling by Kadhafi's forces on Sunday, a doctor tells AFP.
"There were 21 martyrs. The toll could go up. There are 91 wounded, including nine in a serious condition," the doctor tells AFP by telephone from Libya's third-largest city, reluctant to give his name for security reasons. "The overwhelming majority of them are civilians, including a boy aged two and a half. I don't know what weapon it was but it wasn't gunfire."
1224 GMT Updates from other news services elsewhere in the country today... The western Libyan city of Misrata is still under control of opposition forces, opposition spokesman Abdel Basset Abu Zouriq, tells Al Jazeera.
A doctor in Misrata, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting, tells the BBC World Service that pro-Kadhafi forces have destroyed pharmacies and attacked the hospital and mosques there.
1210 GMT Arab League secretary general Amr Mussa told French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe that the grouping backed the idea when the pair met in Cairo on Sunday, foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told reporters.
"Mr Musa confirmed the support of the Arab League for a no-fly zone," Valero said.
1203 GMT Meanwhile, this from AFP in Paris... France has said the Arab League supports imposing a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent Moamer Kadhafi's government forces attacking rebels.
1159 GMT From Ras Lanuf, AFP's Selim Sahab Ettaba describes confusion among rebels over their next move, with some saying they were retrenching, while others said they were resuming their advance.
"We're going to Bin Jawad," said Adel Mohammed al-Arred, a defected army captain. "We're waiting here till we hear from people in Bin Jawad that all the families have left, then we will attack."
But Salahuddin Mohammed al-Sultani, a former policeman from Benghazi, said: "We are going to wait here. We are not going east. It's a Kadhafi ploy for us to leave the oil fields."
Another rebel said they were awaiting orders from the National Council.
1139 GMT More from the outskirts of Ras Lanuf where a second air strike earlier targeted Libyan rebels who returned a stream of machine-gun fire.
AFP's reporter on the eastern outskirts of Ras Lanuf heard a fighter jet screech low through the sky and saw a huge plume of smoke about 400 metres (yards) from the rebels' checkpoint and about 50 metres from the main desert road. Rebels unleashed a volley of return fire as others piled into vans and cars, racing off to inspect whether there was any damage.
An earlier air strike took place further away from the checkpoint, in the desert, about two kilometres (one mile) east of the town which now appears deserted.
1129 GMT Former Jordanian foreign minister Abdul Ilah Khatib -- named on Sunday as UN special envoy for humanitarian affairs in Libya -- will meet all sides in the conflict, AFP reports from Amman.
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky, announcing Khatib's appointment, said he would have "urgent consultations" with Kadhafi's government on the growing battle with rebel forces and work on the humanitarian crisis it has caused. His associate in Amman said, "He will coordinate humanitarian aid and means to find a solution to the crisis in Libya."
Khatib, 56, will leave for New York "in the next few days before travelling to Libya, where he should meet with all parties involved in the conflict," the source added.
1123 GMT A French warship sent to evacuate nearly a thousand Egyptian refugees fleeing Libya has arrived at Tunisia's Zarzis port only to find they have already left, a naval officer says.
The hi-tech Mistral helicopter-carrier had left on Saturday from the southern port of Toulon to repatriate around 900 Egyptians who had crossed into Tunisia from Libya and bring them to the Egyptian port of Alexandria. But soon after the ship dropped anchor spokesman for the French navy Lieutenant Thierry Delorme announced that it would "not be taking" refugees and would be leaving the same day.
Most of the Egyptians had already left by plane, impatient to reach their homeland
1108 GMT Italy has begun discreet talks with the Libyan "National Council" leading the armed revolt against Moamer Kadhafi, to help find a solution to the crisis, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has announced.
"We have better contacts than others" in Libya, which is an ex-Italian colony, Frattini told RAI 1 television. "We know the former justice minister who is now head of the provisional Council of Benghazi, and that network of Libyan ambassadors that have said they are now at the service of the people, not the regime. Some of them are now moving to reach an agreement. We are too, but discreetly. I think that's the best solution."
1104 GMT Ras Lanuf itself is now eerily deserted, journalists there say after vehicles loaded with armed rebels sped out of the town early this morning.
"The remaining rebel presence appeared very thin, only about a dozen fighters manning the main checkpoint into the town," AFP reports. Staff at the only hotel evacuated guests -- mostly journalists -- early this morning, knocking on doors, shouting "emergency, emergency, you should leave". They said they had heard there would be a battle for the town.
1056 GMT A second air strike has targeted Libyan rebels east of the oil town Ras Lanuf, with rebels returning a barrage of anti-aircraft machine gun fire, an AFP correspondent reports from the ground.
1053 GMT Protests continue elsewhere in the region today... in Algeria thousands of community police officers are rallying to demand higher wages.
An AFP journalist says some of the estimated 10,000 protesters have broken through heavy security cordons to reach parliament. Those protesting are officers who provide police services in Algerian villages, while regular police have been despatched to the scene of the protest and are surrounding them.
1040 GMT World oil prices have shot higher, striking 2.5 year highs as a result of the turmoil in Libya and the Middle East, analysts say.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, hit $106.45 a barrel -- the highest level since September 2008. It later stood at $106.10, up $1.68 compared with Friday's close. In London, Brent North Sea crude for April climbed $1.02 to $116.99.
"Oil prices continue to be on the uptrend primarily due to the deepening conflict in Libya and concerns about the protests spreading to other parts of the Middle East's oil-producing region," Victor Shum at international energy consultants Purvin and Gertz tells AFP.
1021 GMT The United Nations is calling for $160 million (114 million euros) to cover the needs of those who have fled Libya as well as others who remain trapped in the strife-torn north African country, AFP reports from Geneva.
The appeal is expected to cover relief support including shelter, food, transportation, water and sanitation for up to one million people for the next three months.
"This appeal is based on planning scenario projecting up to 400,000 people leaving Libya -- including the 200,000 who have left to date -- and another 600,000 people inside Libya expected to need humanitarian aid to varying degrees," said UN aid chief Valerie Amos.
1010 GMT The Guardian's Martin Chulov writes on Twitter: "Reflections on libya 18 days in. Regime toppled but dictator remains. Opposite in egypt where regime remains but dictator gone."
1007 GMT Eleven boats carrying close to 850 immigrants -- mostly Tunisians -- arrived early this morning on the Italian island of Lampedusa, the coastguard tells AFP, while another carrying around 100 people has been spotted by police from the air.
The new arrivals joined around 100 migrants who had arrived by sea from Tunisia over the weekend.
0958 GMT The death toll from the Sunday's violence in Bin Jawad continues to rise, according to the latest hospital figures.
At least 12 people were killed and more than 50 wounded in clashes between Libyan rebels and Kadhafi supporters in the coastal hamlet, AFP reports from Ajdabiya, where many of the injured were taken for hospital treatment. A hospital in Ras Lanuf, which was closest to the fighting, is now "utterly deserted", our correspondent says.
0946 GMT To recap on earlier events in Ras Lanuf... residents began leaving the town early this morning and were seen heading in convoy towards the Mediterranean coastal town of Brega.
"We heard that they are arresting and kidnapping people and we have to leave now," a father driving a silver sedan with two children in the back told an AFP reporter.
0933 GMT An air strike has targeted Libyan rebels east of the oil town Ras Lanuf, where fighters opened fire with anti-aircraft guns following an explosion, an AFP reporter on the ground says.
Our correspondent, who is at a checkpoint on the eastern outskirts of Ras Lanuf, saw an explosion and a big cloud of smoke on the horizon, about two kilometres (one mile) east of the town in the desert. All six anti-aircraft guns at the checkpoint then opened a barrage of fire into the sky and rebels started jumping up and chanting, he reports.
Libyan warplanes have carried out numerous air strikes targeting rebel positions, but have almost entirely missed their targets.
Welcome to the AFP live report on events in Libya. Here's a brief summary of the key developments at 0920 GMT on Monday...
-- Residents of the oil town of Ras Lanuf, after a bitter defeat in nearby Bin Jawad, were seen fleeing eastwards by car towards the rebel-held town of Brega.
-- Pro-Kadhafi forces on Sunday had also thwarted a rebel advance on the Libyan leader's hometown of Sirte and carried out deadly attacks on the western city of Misrata.
-- The UN is sending a "humanitarian assessment" team to Libya along with a special envoy to undertake "urgent consultations" with the Tripoli government, Ban Ki-moon said.
-- The US is coming under mounting pressure to arm the rebels amid charges that Washington missed chances to oust Kadhafi in the early days of the popular uprising.
Follow this report for all the latest news on the conflict as it unfolds.
