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Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi made a brief appearance on state television to quash rumours that he had fled to Venezuela, as his security forces attacked protesters in a violent bid to stop widespread revolt.

During his brief statement, which aired at 2 a.m. local time Tuesday, Gadhafi could be seen sitting in the passenger seat of a car, holding an umbrella out of an open door. A steady rain has fallen on Tripoli for the past two days.

Gadhafi tells an unseen interviewer that he had attempted to make his way to Green Square, in the capital, to speak with his supporters, but was stopped by the inclement weather.

"I am here to show that I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Don't believe those misleading dog stations," Gadhafi said, referring to the media.

The bizarre appearance capped a day of increasing signs that his regime is in its final days.

A CNN correspondent inside Libya said the eastern part of the country appeared to be under the control of anti-Gadhafi forces, which included military personnel rebelling against the government.

Early Monday, jubilant protesters took control of the streets of Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, and anti-government demonstrations spread for the first time to the capital, with reports of bloody clashes in Tripoli's main square.

Libya's ambassadors at the United Nations issued a call for Gadhafi to step down and urged the international community to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to prevent mercenaries or weapons from reaching his security forces.

Deputy Ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi said Monday that if Gadhafi does not relinquish power, "the Libyan people will get rid of him." There were also reports that Libyan diplomats in China and across Europe had resigned from their posts.

And in a possible hint of crumbling military support for the long-time strongman, two senior Libyan air force officers flew their fighter jets to the Mediterranean island of Malta to ask for political asylum.

The two Mirage high-performance fighters landed at Valetta, Malta, on Monday after their pilots, both colonels, told the control tower that they wanted asylum. They had taken off from a base near Tripoli and had flown low over Libyan airspace to avoid detection.

Late Monday, reports emerged from Libya that pro-Gadhafi militias were driving through the streets of Tripoli, warning residents over loudspeakers to remain in their homes, while reports on state television said military forces had "stormed the hideouts of saboteurs."

Residents reported seeing the pro-government militias firing indiscriminately as they drove through the streets, at times shooting directly at homes. Witnesses also said that both helicopters and military planes flew lower over the capital and surrounding areas.

While early reports suggested the warplanes had bombed parts of the capital, Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, was quoted by state television as saying the military was conducting airstrikes on munitions warehouses and other targets in remote areas, away from residents.

Witnesses said Tripoli was virtually shut down Monday, with schools, government offices and most shops closed except a few bakeries serving local residents.

The latest reports out of Libya led world leaders to step up their calls for an end to the seven days of violence that has left at least 233 people dead, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on Gadhafi to "stop this unacceptable bloodshed," while British Prime Minister David Cameron, who was visiting Egypt Monday, called the violent crackdown on protests "appalling."

"The regime is using the most vicious forms of repression against people who want to see that country -- which is one of the most closed and one of the most autocratic -- make progress," he said.

Earlier Monday, protesters clashed with police in the heart of Tripoli, Green Square.

Witnesses said snipers opened fire on crowds trying to seize the square. Before dawn, protesters reportedly took over the offices of two of the state-run satellite news channels and by daybreak, smoke was rising from two sites in Tripoli where a police station and a security forces base are located, Rehab, a lawyer watching from the roof of her home, told The Associated Press.

Gadhafi's regime has unleashed the bloodiest crackdown of any Arab country against the wave of protests sweeping the region, which toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.

Like his father's appearance a day later, the younger Gadhafi made an early morning appearance on state television Monday, vowing that his father and his security forces would fight "until the last bullet."

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi threatened civil war in a rambling, early morning speech, CTV Middle East bureau chief Martin Seemungal reported.

"He went on TV with a rather rambling -- and at times incoherent speech -- saying things like: ‘We admit that the army has made mistakes in firing on people, but we will never give up and if the demonstrators do not stop this is going to lead to civil war,'" Seemungal said.

Libya does not allow foreign journalists into the country and Seemungal said the reports from the capital were difficult to confirm. But if Gadhafi's control over Tripoli is slipping, he said it could spell the end of his rule.

"This is Gadhafi's stronghold and if in fact he cannot hold onto Tripoli, then it would seem that his days are numbered," Seemungal said.

In Benghazi

In the eastern port city of Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, protesters appeared to be in control Monday, overrunning the city's security headquarters and driving or marching through the streets in celebration chanting "Long live Libya."

Some protesters tore the Libyan flag down from above Benghazi's main courthouse and raised the flag of the country's old monarchy, which was toppled in 1969 by the military coup that brought Gadhafi to power, according to witnesses and video footage posted on the Internet.

Young men, both protesters and supporters of the regime, swarmed through captured security buildings, seizing weapons from abandoned police arsenals, said doctors at Benghazi's main hospital

Police had vanished from the city's streets, said witnesses, leaving youth volunteers to direct traffic and guard private homes and public facilities.

In some cases, army units reportedly turned against security forces and pro-Gadhafi militias.

Mohamed Abdul-Rahman, a 42-year-old Benghazi merchant, said he saw an army battalion chasing militiamen from a security compound.

Mark Sedra, of the Centre for International Governance, told CTV's Canada AM that there are signs of a split within the Libyan army, with units based in Benghazi and the eastern half of the country apparently backing the protesters while Tripoli-based elements remain loyal to Gadhafi.

"There has always been a split in Libya between east and west," he told CTV's Canada AM. "Some army units from Benghazi have turned on the Libyan regime and secured control of Benghazi … there could be some fighting or factional divisions within the army itself, which could probably lead to more violence."

The protesters' apparent triumph in Benghazi follows bloody clashes Sunday left at least 60 people dead.

Benghazi has seen a cycle of bloody clashes over the past week, as security forces kill protesters, followed by funerals that turn into new protests, sparking new bloody shootings.

After funerals Sunday, protesters fanned out, burning government buildings and police stations and besieging the large compound known as the Katiba, the city's main security headquarters.

'A security state'

Sedra said there may be even more deaths to come.

"The Libyan regime is a much more closed and authoritarian regime than what we saw in Tunisia and Egypt," he said. "It is really a security state. So we are probably going to see the government use some of those security mechanisms to try and put down these protesters. And that means we're probably going to see more violence going forward."

One fear was of regime supporters causing chaos. Amal Roqaqie, a lawyer at Benghazi Court, said that at dawn, wheat storage buildings were set on fire, though protesters were able to control the blaze.

She blamed Gadhafi supporters, saying "they want to starve the people and to intimidate them."

The younger Gadhafi's speech struck a defiant tone, but he also promised "historic" reforms in Libya if protests stop.

On Monday, state TV sought to give an air of normalcy, reporting that Moammar Gadhafi received telephone calls of support from the presidents of Nicaragua and Mali. It showed footage of a crowd of Libyans said to be from the town of Zeltein chanting their support for Gadhafi in a conference hall. Gadhafi, in flowing black and brown robes, waved to the crowd with both hands. It was not clear when the scene took place.

The spiralling turmoil in Libya, an OPEC country that is a significant oil supplier to Europe, was raising international alarm. Oil prices jumped $1.67 to nearly $88 a barrel Monday amid investor concern over the turmoil.

The Internet has been largely shut down, residents can no longer make international calls from land lines and journalists cannot work freely, but eyewitness reports trickling out of the country suggested that protesters were fighting back more forcefully against the Middle East's longest-serving leader.

Security forces have already used weapons such as heavy machine-guns and anti-aircraft artillery against demonstrators, according to residents. One witness said she saw bodies torn apart and that makeshift clinics had been set up in the streets to treat the wounded because hospitals were overwhelmed.

With files from The Associated Press