mixed bag of Libya news

1732: A disturbing tweet from Ali Tweel in Tripoli: “may allah help us all. They are shooting any protesters. we are unarmed. what is this place? where am i? People r killing unarmed people!”.

1738: Another report that more ground has fallen to anti-Gaddafi forces. Reuters is saying three towns in the mountains south-west of Tripoli are no longer under his control.

1747: The Guardian’s Fabrizio Caccia describes a twitchy Tripoli that is evenly split between supporters and opponents of Col Gaddafi, and people caught in the middle who are desperately trying to flee.

1806: The town of Zawiyah, about 50km (30 miles) west of Tripoli on the road to the Tunisian border, was the scene of heavy fighting on Thursday as supporters of Col Gaddafi counter-attacked his opponents. Now, Reuters reports that Gaddafi opponents say they have control of the town. Other witnesses say heavy gunfire has been heard from the town today.

1809: Libya’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi, has been speaking at a hastily-called news conference. He called Col Gaddafi a madman and said thousands would die in Tripoli because the Libyan leader would fight his ground.

And best of all, for those of us who so admired citizen law enforcement efforts in Egypt:

1819: John Simpson adds that there is no sign of police or soldiers in Benghazi, but law and order is prevailing.