Al-Jazeera television had earlier said there were fierce clashes between pro- and anti-government forces for control of Az-Zawahiya, a crowded middle-class town home to a number of pro-Kadhafi military officers and the site of Libya's biggest oil refinery.

As the battle to unseat him began to encircle the capital, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi spoke via a television address to the elders of the town, where he said a drug-crazed mob of youths spurred on by Al-Qaeda had killed four policemen.