Pro-Gadhafi militia strikes at protesters

Benghazi (AP):

Army units and militiamen loyal to Moammar Gadhafi struck back against rebellious protesters who have risen up in cities close to the capital yesterday, attacking a mosque where many had taken refuge and battling with others who had seized control of a local airport.

The assaults aimed to push back a revolt that has moved closer to Gadhafi's bastion in the capital, Tripoli. The uprising has already broken away nearly the eastern half of Libya and unravelled parts of Gadhafi's regime.

In the latest blow to the Libyan leader, a cousin who is one of his closest aides, Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, announced that he has defected to Egypt in protest against the regime's bloody crackdown against the uprising, denouncing what he called "grave violations to human rights and human and international laws".

In the city of Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometres) west of Tripoli, an army unit attacked a mosque where regime opponents had been camping inside and in a lot outside for several days in a protest calling for Gadhafi's ouster, a witness said. The soldiers opened fire with automatic weapons and hit the mosque's minaret with fire from an anti-aircraft gun, he said. Some of the young men among the protesters had hunting rifles for protection.

He said there were casualties, but couldn't provide exact figures. He said a day earlier an envoy from Gadhafi had come to the city and warned the mosque protesters, "Either leave or you will see a massacre." Zawiya is a key city near an oil port and refineries.