<p>The country’s second-largest city Benghazi remained under the control of rebels.<br /><br />There were also reports suggesting that the dictator may have fled Libya. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he had seen information to suggest Gadhafi had fled Libya and was on his way to Venezuela. But the Venezuelan government denied this.<br /><br />Even as these reports emerged, Libyan warplanes were bombing indiscriminately across Tripoli, a resident of the Libyan capital told al Jazeera television in a live broadcast. <br /><br />"What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Adel Mohamed Saleh said. Saleh, who called himself a political activist, said the bombings had initially targeted a funeral procession. <br /><br />"Our people are dying. It is the policy of scorched earth." he said. "Every 20 minutes they are bombing." <br /><br />Asked if the attacks were still happening he said: "It is continuing, it is continuing. Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car they will hit you." <br /><br />Forces defend<br /><br />Security forces loyal to Gadhafi defended a handful of strategic locations, including the state television headquarters and the presidential palace, witnesses reported from Tripoli. <br /><br />Fires from the previous night’s rioting burned at many intersections, most stores were shut, and long lines were forming for a chance to buy bread or gas. In a sign of growing cracks within the government, several senior officials — including the justice minister and members of the Libyan mission to the United Nations — broke with Gadhafi. <br /><br />Earlier, Gadhafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, warned the country faces civil war and “rivers of blood”.<br /><br />“Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms... rivers of blood will run through Libya,”he said in a fiery but rambling televised speech that betrayed a note of desperation within his father’s regime.<br /><br />“We will take up arms... we will fight to the last bullet. We will destroy seditious elements. If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other... Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia,”he said.<br /><br />Within hours of the statement, protesters in the capital Tripoli attacked state broadcast offices and set branches of the People’s Committees that are the mainstay of the regime ablaze overnight, witnesses said.<br /><br />The International Federation for Human Rights on Monday put the death toll since the start of the uprising at 300 to 400.</p>
<p>The country’s second-largest city Benghazi remained under the control of rebels.<br /><br />There were also reports suggesting that the dictator may have fled Libya. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he had seen information to suggest Gadhafi had fled Libya and was on his way to Venezuela. But the Venezuelan government denied this.<br /><br />Even as these reports emerged, Libyan warplanes were bombing indiscriminately across Tripoli, a resident of the Libyan capital told al Jazeera television in a live broadcast. <br /><br />"What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Adel Mohamed Saleh said. Saleh, who called himself a political activist, said the bombings had initially targeted a funeral procession. <br /><br />"Our people are dying. It is the policy of scorched earth." he said. "Every 20 minutes they are bombing." <br /><br />Asked if the attacks were still happening he said: "It is continuing, it is continuing. Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car they will hit you." <br /><br />Forces defend<br /><br />Security forces loyal to Gadhafi defended a handful of strategic locations, including the state television headquarters and the presidential palace, witnesses reported from Tripoli. <br /><br />Fires from the previous night’s rioting burned at many intersections, most stores were shut, and long lines were forming for a chance to buy bread or gas. In a sign of growing cracks within the government, several senior officials — including the justice minister and members of the Libyan mission to the United Nations — broke with Gadhafi. <br /><br />Earlier, Gadhafi’s son, Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, warned the country faces civil war and “rivers of blood”.<br /><br />“Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms... rivers of blood will run through Libya,”he said in a fiery but rambling televised speech that betrayed a note of desperation within his father’s regime.<br /><br />“We will take up arms... we will fight to the last bullet. We will destroy seditious elements. If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other... Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia,”he said.<br /><br />Within hours of the statement, protesters in the capital Tripoli attacked state broadcast offices and set branches of the People’s Committees that are the mainstay of the regime ablaze overnight, witnesses said.<br /><br />The International Federation for Human Rights on Monday put the death toll since the start of the uprising at 300 to 400.</p>
