20110228
reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Foreign powers accelerated efforts to help oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday as rebels fought government forces trying to take back strategic coastal cities on either side of the capital Tripoli.

Gaddafi's forces have been trying for days to push back a revolt that has won over large parts of the military, ended his control over eastern Libya and is fending off government assaults in western cities near Tripoli.

It is difficult for reporters to move around western Libya and reports of fighting were hard to verify independently.

But witnesses in both Misrata, a city of a half a million people 200 km (125 miles) to the east of Tripoli, and Zawiyah, a strategic refinery town 50 km (30 miles) to the west, said government forces were mounting or preparing attacks.

"An aircraft was shot down this morning while it was firing on the local radio station. Protesters captured its crew," a witness in Misrata, Mohamed, told Reuters by telephone.

"Fighting to control the military air base started last night and is still going on. Gaddafi's forces control only a small part of the base. Protesters control a large part of this base where there is ammunition."

A Libyan government source denied the report.

A resident of Zawiyah, called Ibrahim, told Reuters by telephone: "We are expecting attacks at any moment by brigades belonging to (Gaddafi's son) Khamis. They are on the outskirts of the town, about 5-7 km away. They are in large numbers."