Libyans mass for another day of protests

Libyan protesters defied a fierce crackdown by Moammar Gadhafi's regime, returning today to a square outside a court building in the flashpoint city of Benghazi to demand the overthrow of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

Witnesses told The Associated Press hundreds of demonstrators gathered early morning at the court building after a day of bloodshed, during which Libyan forces opened fire on mourners leaving a funeral for protesters.

In the hours after that attack, a medical official said at least 15 people were killed.

But Mohammed Abdullah, a Dubai-based member of the Libyan Salvation Front, said today that the toll could be much higher.

He quoted hospital officials in Benghazi saying the death toll might have reached 300.

Witness accounts said a mixture of special commandos, foreign mercenaries and Gadhafi loyalists armed with knives, Kalashnikovs and even anti-aircraft missiles went after the demonstrators.

Getting concrete details about the six days of protests in Libya is difficult because journalists cannot work freely inside the country, which Gadhafi has tightly controlled for 42 years.

Information about the uprising has come through telephone interviews, along with videos and messages posted online, and through opposition activists in exile.

The US-based Arbor Networks reported another Internet service outage in Libya just before midnight yesterday night. The company says online traffic ceased in Libya about 2 am yesterday, was restored at reduced levels several hours later, only to be cut off again that night.