Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi launched a major fightback in Libya's East on Wednesday, sparking a rebel warning that foreign military help might be needed to 'put the nail in his coffin' and end his long rule.

Government forces shot dead at least two protesters in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Friday, TV stations reported, as a popular uprising against Muammar Gaddafi closed in on his main power base.

Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi used tanks, helicopters and warplanes to fight a growing revolt, witnesses said on Tuesday, as the veteran leader scoffed at reports he was fleeing after four decades in power.

Disturbances rocking Libya have killed 300 people — 189 civilians and 111 soldiers, according to the first official figures released by Moamer Kadhafi's regime since unrest broke out a week ago.

Protesters stormed Libya's state broadcaster and torched police stations in Tripoli as Muammar Gaddafi's son warned that the Arab world's longest ruling leader would fight to the death to retain power on Monday.

Hundreds of people clashed with the police and government supporters overnight in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, a witness and local media said, in a rare show of unrest in the oil exporting country.

At least four people were killed in clashes with Libyan security forces, opposition websites and NGOs said today, as the country faced a nationwide "Day of Anger" called by cyber-activists.

The foreign ministers of Switzerland and Spain were in Libya on Sunday hoping to bring home a Swiss businessman stranded there for nearly two years and draw a line under a damaging diplomatic row.

A Libyan Airbus jet crashed early on Wednesday as it tried to land in Tripoli airport, killing 103 people on board, most of them Dutch, leaving a young Dutch boy the sole survivor, officials said.