According to a toll compiled by AFP from different local sources, at least 41 people have lost their lives since demonstrations first erupted on Tuesday.

That toll does not include two policemen who were killed on Friday.

Oea newspaper, which is close to Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, said they were lynched after being captured in the eastern city of Al-Baida.

Security forces were deployed around Al-Baida on Friday, a source close to the authorities told AFP, following Internet reports that demonstrators had seized control of the city.