Gaddafi forces strike back as rebels close in on Tripoli

Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi attacked anti-regime protesters with machine guns and rocket- propelled grenades at a mosque in Zawiyah leaving nearly 100 people dead, as outraged western nations today prepared to slap sanctions against Tripoli.

Undeterred by the brutal military action, protesters, who have gained control of several eastern cities, advanced closer to 68-year-old Gaddafi's stronghold of Tripoli.

Speculation was rife over the whereabouts of the Libyan ruler who, in a marked contrast to a 75-minute address from a podium outside his Tripoli home on Tuesday, told the state TV on telephone last evening from an undisclosed destination that al-Qaeda of Osama bin Laden was responsible for unprecedented protests against his 41-year rule.

An increasingly isolated Gaddafi said the uprising against his regime was not a people's revolt in the style of Egypt and Tunisia, but inspired by Osama's outfit.

There had also been reports of a fierce battle for control of an airport near the opposition-controlled city of Misrata, about 200 km from Tripoli.

However, the worst violence was witnessed in the town of Zawiyah, about 50 km west of Tripoli, where troops opened fire with automatic weapons and an anti-aircraft gun on a mosque where protesters had been taking shelter last evening.

Witnesses told Al Jazeera the death toll in the violence there was estimated to be close to 100.

But Gaddafi's opponents reportedly managed to capture a military air base.

In Washington, US President Barack Obama spoke over phone with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Premier David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and discussed the Libyan crisis.

The White House said the leaders discussed a range of options that both the US and European countries are preparing to hold the Libyan government accountable for its actions.

It said all options were on the table, including sanctions.

State Department spokesman P J Crowley said the Obama administration supported a European proposal for the UN Human Rights Council to recommend Libya's expulsion from the body.

He said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at the direction of Obama, is travelling to Geneva on February 27-28 to address a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council and mobilise the international community against the Muammar Gaddafi regime of Libya.

The UN Security Council is expected to meet soon in New York to consider further action against Gaddafi's government.