Here's a video showing some of the fighting near to Bin Jawad. The footage shows rebels retreating from the town coming under fire from pro-Gaddafi forces. The video also reports that "an aircraft was spotted passing overhead and smoke was seen rising from an industrial area".
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Gaddafi has repeated his claims that al-Qaida is responsible for the uprising in Libya, while insisting that western media has been "falsely reporting" the crisis. "Now that we've opened the doors to foreign journalists so they can see what's going on, the world has begun to realise with shock that it has made an incredible mistake," Gaddafi said in an interview with France 24. He said the world had believed the "false reports made by press agencies", and that the UN security council had used these reports "as justification" for taking action against Libya. Gaddafi said his forces were fighting al-Qaida and and "international terrorists".
Appearing composed and calm in the television interview, Gaddafi likened his forces' clampdown on his opponents in Libya to Israel's behaviour in Gaza:
"Even the Israelis in Gaza, when they moved into the Gaza strip, they moved in with tanks to fight such extremists. It's the same thing here! We have small armed groups who are fighting us. We did not use force from the outset… Armed units of the Libyan army have had to fight small armed al-Qaida bands. That is what's happened."
Rebels in eastern Libya have called for the west to intervene with air strikes to prevent Gaddafi acting "like a wounded wolf" and attacking oilfields in the country. "The West needs to move or this crazy guy (Gaddafi) will do something to the oilfields. He is like a wounded wolf. If the West does not intervene with tactical air strikes he could put the oilfields out of commission for a long time," Mustafa Gheriani, a media officer for the rebel movement in Benghazi told Reuters. Gheriani said of the rebel forces: "There are almost 17,000 people out there in Ajdabiyah and beyond, but they are scattered."
More from Ras Lanuf, where an air strike has been reported on the eastern outskirts of the town."There was an aircraft, it fired two rockets there were no deaths," said Mokhtar Dobrug, a rebel fighter who witnessed the air strike, told Reuters. The air strike took place at one of two checkpoints in the city. There were no casualties.
10.40am: The rebel National Libyan Council says there is no room for broad dialogue with Gaddafi's government, and any talks must be on the basis he quits. Jadallah Azous Al-Talhi, a Libyan prime minister in the 1980s who is originally from eastern Libya, appeared on state television reading an address to elders in the rebel city of Benghazi calling for national dialogue to end the bloodshed. Asked about the address, rebel official Ahmed Jabreel told Reuters: "Talhi is a close acquaintance of mine and he is widely respected in Libya as a man who stood up to Gaddafi. But we have made it clear all along that any negotiations must be on the basis that Gaddafi will step down. There can be no other compromise."
: The rebel National Libyan Council says there is no room for broad dialogue with Gaddafi's government, and any talks must be on the basis he quits. Jadallah Azous Al-Talhi, a Libyan prime minister in the 1980s who is originally from eastern Libya, appeared on state television reading an address to elders in the rebel city of Benghazi calling for national dialogue to end the bloodshed.Asked about the address, rebel official Ahmed Jabreel told Reuters: "Talhi is a close acquaintance of mine and he is widely respected in Libya as a man who stood up to Gaddafi. But we have made it clear all along that any negotiations must be on the basis that Gaddafi will step down. There can be no other compromise."
Good morning, welcome to the Guardian's live coverage of the continuing unrest in Libya. • Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi have reportedly retaken the previously rebel held town of Bin Jawad and are advancing on the oil refinery town of Ras Lanuf. The Libyan army was seen moving down the strategic Mediterranean coastal road east of the Bin Jawad, heading towards Ras Lanuf some 60km (40 miles) away, witnesses told Reuters. "I went to Bin Jawad and about 20km (13 miles) beforehand I saw Gaddafi forces, a large truck and army vehicles, and a fighter jet, they were coming slowly in this direction," Ahmed al-Araibi, a driver said, with two other witnesses confirming similar movements. The taking of Ras Lanuf had represented a major victory for the rebels on Friday but their advance towards Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte on the road to Tripoli was stopped in its tracks at Bin Jawad where rebels retreated under fire.
• The UN secretary general has called for an end to indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Libya and warned of "carnage" in the days ahead. Ban Ki-moon has also dispatched a team to Tripoli to assess the humanitarian situation in the wake of the Libyan regime's "disproportionate use of force".
Ban's intervention on Sunday came as rebel forces continued to battle Gaddafi's troops for control of key towns and cities, and Britain assessed the embarrassing fallout from the botched SAS mission to establish contacts with rebel leaders.
Ban's intervention on Sunday came as rebel forces continued to battle Gaddafi's troops for control of key towns and cities, and Britain assessed the embarrassing fallout from the botched SAS mission to establish contacts with rebel leaders.
• Libya's rebel commanders have freed two MI6 officers and six SAS soldiers captured by farm guards on Thursday morning, after the British government vouched for their identities. The group was immediately flown to the frigate HMS Cumberland, which remains stationed off the coast of Libya.
Seven of the group had been dropped by helicopter into farmland near the rebel capital Benghazi on a mission to establish contact with anti-regime forces. The eight Britons had been detained and questioned since Thursday by rebel leaders who had suspected they were mercenaries.
Seven of the group had been dropped by helicopter into farmland near the rebel capital Benghazi on a mission to establish contact with anti-regime forces. The eight Britons had been detained and questioned since Thursday by rebel leaders who had suspected they were mercenaries.
• Elsewhere in the Middle East public protests have been banned in Saudi Arabia following demonstrations by minority Shia groups.The ruling comes after two weeks of Shia demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, during which 22 people were arrested. A statement issued by the country's council of senior clerics said: "The council ... affirms that demonstrations are forbidden in this country. The correct way in sharia [law] of realising common interest is by advising, which is what the prophet Muhammad established.
"Reform and advice should not be via demonstrations and ways that provoke strife and division, this is what the religious scholars of this country in the past and now have forbidden and warned against."
"Reform and advice should not be via demonstrations and ways that provoke strife and division, this is what the religious scholars of this country in the past and now have forbidden and warned against."
