Cairo, February 25
Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi attacked anti-regime protesters with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades at a mosque in Zawiyah leaving nearly 100 people dead, as outraged Western nations today prepared to slap sanctions against Tripoli.

Undeterred by the brutal military action, protesters, who have gained control of several eastern cities, advanced closer to 68-year-old Gaddafi’s stronghold of Tripoli and reportedly managed to capture a military air base.

There were reports of a fierce battle for control of an airport near the opposition-controlled city of Misrata, about 200 km from Tripoli. However, the worst violence was witnessed in the town of Zawiyah, about 50 km west of Tripoli, where troops opened fire with automatic weapons and an anti-aircraft gun on a mosque where protesters had been taking shelter yesterday evening. Witnesses told Al Jazeera the death toll in the violence there was estimated to be close to 100.

Speculation was rife over the whereabouts of the Libyan ruler who, in a marked contrast to a 75-minute address from a podium outside his Tripoli home on Tuesday, told state TV over telephone yesterday evening from an undisclosed destination blamed Osama bin Laden for unprecedented protests against his 41-year rule.

In Washington, US President Barack Obama spoke over phone with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Premier David Cameron and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and discussed the Libyan crisis.

The White House said the leaders discussed a range of options that both the US and European countries are preparing to hold the Libyan Government accountable for its actions. It said all options were on the table, including sanctions. State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said the Obama administration supported a European proposal for the UN Human Rights Council to recommend Libya's expulsion from the body.

He said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at the direction of Obama, is travelling to Geneva on February 27-28 to address a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council and mobilise the international community against the Gaddafi regime. The UN Security Council is expected to meet soon in New York to consider further action against Gaddafi’s government. — PTI

New Delhi, February 25
Libya has given clearance to India to operate two special flights a day for the next 10 days between the two countries to evacuate Indians stranded in the Arab nation in the wake of pro-democracy protests there, External Affairs Minister SM Krishna said today. As a result, Air India (AI) would begin operating special flights to Libyan capital Tripoli from tomorrow morning. One flight would take off from Mumbai and the other from Delhi, official sources said.

The two planes together would bring back around 650 persons daily. Meanwhile, another 200 Indians are expected to reach Egypt tonight from the Libyan town of Tobruk. Many stranded Indians are reaching Egypt on their own. There are around 18,000 Indians in Libya, including 3,500 Punjabis.

Even as the Air India will operate these special flights for 10 days, Naval warships will reach Alexandria in Egypt before the 10-day permission expired. The warships will use Alexandria as the launch pad to reach Tripoli and Benghazi, two ports on the Western and Eastern edge of Libya, respectively. From there, passengers will be ferried to either Alexandria or to Malta for onward journey to India. The initial plan of the Navy was to send three warships to Libya but that has now been whittled down to two.

The ships have been specially equipped with full medical facilities such as operation theatres, doctors and paramedics. These will also be carrying helicopters and contingents of marine commandos to meet any exigency.

A passenger ship “Scotia Prince” is slated to carry out an evacuation on February 27. The ship will bring back at least 1,200 persons to Alexandria by March 1. The evacuees will be flown back home by special Air India flights thereafter.

Meanwhile, in a statement, the External affairs Ministry said it had come to its notice that some unscrupulous elements were asking for payments/handling charges/facilitation fee for arranging evacuation of Indian nationals, through the Indian Embassy in Libya. “These activities are completely illegal and should be immediately reported to the law enforcement authorities,” it added.