* Reports had said Libyan dictator was planning devolve power
* Streets of Tripoli 'littered with bodies' as Gaddafi forces shoot protesters
* Libyan ambassador to U.S. says he no longer works for the leader
* Around 450 dead after 'massacre' in Tripoli
* Benghazi airport destroyed, says Egypt's foreign minister
* Muslim cleric urges army to shoot Gaddafi to 'rid Libya of him'
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has attacked the international community and said he has no plans to step down after hundreds were killed when his supporters opened fire on anti-government protesters in Tripoli.
Less than a day after a bizarre appearance in which he insisted he had remained in the Libyan capital, after reports he had fled, Gaddafi addressed a crowd in Green Square and said other nations were trying to 'disfigure' the image of Libya.
The head of state had launched a brutal crackdown as his 41-year reign came under threat as thousands of Libyans took to the streets to call for change, with foreign mercenaries brought in to indiscriminately attack demonstrators and reports of war planes strafing cities.
'I'm staying': Colonel Gaddafi was interviewed sitting in the front seat of van. He insisted he was still in Tripoli
Anti-regime revolutionaries seized control of the second city Benghazi and other communities in eastern Libya yesterday and Tripoli woke today to find bodies littering the streets after security forces loyal to embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi opened fire on protesters.
Scores of corpses had not been cleared away because residents have been warned anyone seen out will be shot, said Mohammed Ali of the Libyan Salvation Front.
He said eyewitnesses saw forces loyal to Gaddafi shot at ambulances and some protesters were left bleeding to death.
The colonel had appeared on Libyan TV last night to insist he is still in the country, while Tripoli blazed and his troops were allegedly shooting, bombing and strafing civilian demonstrators.
But after widespread international criticism of Gaddafi's violent crackdown on the protests and the resignations of several of the country's ambassadors, the 68-year-old leader delivered a rambling speech today in which he praised the revolutionaries before railing against the international community and Libya's enemies.
He claimed his own home had been bombed by 'superpowers' and said said 'rats' had been paid to disfigure the reputation of Libya.
As Gaddafi spoke, it emerged a 'Libyan naval asset' had been spotted of the Maltese coast, a day after two fighter jets landed on the island after defecting from the Libyan military.
Gaddafi's appearance in Green Square followed reports that mercenaries from Russia and former Soviet nations were fighting Libyan protesters on behalf of Gaddafi.
Eastern European gunmen have been spotted with black African mercenaries from French-speaking African nations such as Chad and were believed to have received up to £18,000 each to prop up the regime.
The Libyan side of the Egyptian border was controlled on Tuesday by anti-Gaddafi rebels armed with clubs and Kalashnikov rifles who welcomed visitors from Egypt, a Reuters correspondent who crossed into Libya reported.
One held up a picture of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, upside down, and defaced with the words 'the butcher tyrant, murderer of Libyans', the correspondent said when passing through the town of Musaid, just inside the Libyan side of the border. The men were welcoming and waved cars through.
It has been reported that Iran has stopped its oil activities in Libya with the intention of evacuating staff in the next 48 hours while Opec is considering an extraordinary meeting to discuss raising its oil output, according to Italian government sources.
As the fighting intensified Libya, cracks appeared among Gaddafi supporters, with some ambassadors resigning and calling for his removal.
Ali Aujali, the Libyan ambassador to the U.S. today said he was resigning 'from serving the current dictatorship regime'
'But I will never resign from serving our people until their voices reach the whole world, until their goals are achieved,' he said on ABC television's Good Morning America. 'I am calling for him to go and leave our people alone.'
But amid reports that he had fled to Venezuela, Gaddafi appeared on state TV earlier to insist: 'I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Do not believe the channels belonging to stray dogs.
'I wanted to say something to the youths at the Green Square (in Tripoli) and stay up late with them but it started raining. Thank God, it's a good thing.'
He gave the brief statement in a bizarre 22-second TV interview while holding an umbrella and sitting in the front seat of a van, which appeared to be outside his residence in Tripoli.
Gaddafi spoke out after reports suggested a massacre had taken place in the city’s Green Square and left more than 60 dead, taking the death toll across the country to more than 450.
One protester told Al Jazeera: 'What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead.
'Our people are dying. It is the policy of scorched earth,' he said. 'Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car they will hit you.'
Security forces appeared to be preparing a major assault in the capital last night, as state TV said troops had 'stormed the hideouts of the saboteurs'. Snipers took up positions on rooftops and jets swooped low over rooftops, apparently trying to stop more opposition activists joining those who are already overwhelming the city.
Protesters called for another demonstration in Tripoli's central Green Square and in front of Gaddafi's residence, but witnesses described a scene of intimidation, with helicopters hovering above the main seaside boulevard and pro-Gaddafi gunmen firing from moving cars and even shooting at the facades of homes to terrify the population.
Youths trying to gather in the streets were forced to scatter and run for cover by the gunfire, according to several witnesses who said people wept over the bodies of the dead left in the street.
A statement from Libyan state TV claimed reports of widespread bloodshed were 'baseless lies' by foreign media outlets.
'You should know that this is part of the psychological warfare, lies and rumours which you should resist because they are aimed at demolishing your morale, stability and blessings for which they envy you,' it read.
'Rumours are a poison which you should not drink. False news peddled by satellite TVs are arrows which you should deflect towards their throats.'
Runways at Benghazi airport have been destroyed in the violence and passenger planes cannot land there, Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said today.
'Regarding east of Libya, the Benghazi airport runways have been destroyed. It is not possible for Egyptair flights or any other flights to land in that airport,' he told a news conference.
Witness statements from the ground have reported foreign mercenaries, many of whom are from Chad and Darfur, patrolling the streets and attacking demonstrators.
A Libyan man who gave his name as Ali and lives in a Tripoli suiburb, told 972 magazine: 'Gaddafi obviously does not have any limits. We knew he was crazy, but it's still a terrible shock to see him turning mercenaries on his own people and just mowing down unarmed demonstrators.
'So yeah, we knew he was crazy. But maybe we did not realize he was that crazy. It's a scary and devastating feeling to be here now.'
There were reports that the Libyan ambassador to London and his staff had resigned and joined protesters as one activist raised a flag of the pre-Gaddafi Libya at the country's British embassy yesterday.
Libya's former ambassador to the Arab League in Cairo, Abdel-Moneim al-Houni, who resigned his post Sunday to side with protesters, demanded Gaddafi and his commanders and aides be put on trial for 'the mass killings in Libya'.
'Gadhafi's regime is now in the trash of history because he betrayed his nation and his people,' Mr al-Houni said in a statement.
Libya's ambassador to India, Ali al-Essawi, said he resigned because he could not tolerate the authorities 'killing peaceful people'.
A Libyan diplomat in China, Hussein el-Sadek el-Mesrati, told Al-Jazeera: 'I resigned from representing the government of Mussolini and Hitler'.
And the Libyan Embassy in Malaysia distanced itself from the regime, issuing a statement strongly condemning 'the barbaric, criminal massacre' of civilians. However, none of the embassy's diplomats quit.
About 250 protesters stormed into the Libyan Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Tuesday, chanting and calling for Gadhafi to step down, a counselor at the embassy told CNN. Osama Ahmed said the majority of the protesters were Libyan students studying in Malaysia. The protests were relatively peaceful, and embassy security let the protesters in for two hours.
And a top Libyan diplomat stationed in China said Tuesday he had resigned to protest his government's violent crackdown on protesters and called on Gadhafi to step down and leave the country.
Hussein Sadiq al Musrati, who was the second secretary in the Libyan mission to Beijing before he stepped down four days ago, joined about 20 students and protesters in front of the Libyan Embassy in Beijing Tuesday. Demonstrators held signs that read: 'The game is over. Get out ... you're finished'.
Senior clerics within Libya issued a fatwa against the Gaddafi regime. And two Libyan air force jets landed in Malta, where their crew sought political asylum.
Gaddafi himself was earlier said to have left for his home town in the south of the country – or even the rogue South American state of Venezuela, according to British Foreign Secretary William Hague.
The chaos engulfing the country prompted many foreigners to flee.
The Italian government has since confirmed it will send an air force jet to Benghazi to evacuate its expatriates in the second city.
Oil companies, including Italy's Eni, Royal Dutch Shell PLC and U.K.-based BP have also begun evacuating their expat workers or their families or both.
The impact of the violent events was felt outside the Middle East, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also saying it was 'time to stop the unacceptable bloodshed in Libya'.
UN Security General Ban Ki-moon said the regime's response to the uprising was a 'serious violation of international humanitarian law' and it has been confirmed the Security Council will consult on Libya today.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay added widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population 'may amount to crimes against humanity'.
In a statement Tuesday she condemned the 'callousness with which Libyan authorities and their hired guns are reportedly shooting live rounds of ammunition at peaceful protesters.'
David Cameron also condemned the brutal suppression, describing it as ‘completely appalling and unacceptable’.
Speaking as he became the first foreign leader to visit neighbouring Egypt since the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak, the Prime Minister said: ‘I call on them even at this late stage to stop.
'People’s aspirations for greater democracy, for greater freedom, for greater rights should be met with reform not repression.’
But Mr Cameron was accused of hypocrisy after it emerged that he had taken representatives of eight defence firms with him on his Middle East tour.
Critics pointed out that Gaddafi may well have been using British-made weapons to attack his fellow countrymen.
Anti-government protests have also broken out in the central town of Ras Lanuf, the site of an oil refinery and petrochemical complex, Libya’s Quryna newspaper reported on its internet site.
In signs of disagreement inside Libya’s ruling elite, the justice minister resigned in protest at the ‘excessive use of violence’ against protesters.
A coalition of Libyan Muslim leaders told all Muslims it was their duty to rebel against the Libyan leadership because of its ‘bloody crimes against humanity’.
Burned out: Libyans walk past a government building in Tripoli today after it was attacked by protesters
Changing face of Libya: Libyan protesters tear down a poster put up by Muammar Gaddaf on a building in Tobruk
On the move: A truck loaded with household belongings drives past a traffic policeman in Benghaz
Brothers in arms: An army soldier and anti-Gaddafi protesters pose in front of a tank in the early hours of this morning in Benghazi
Taking risks: Anti-government protesters demonstrate in the street in Tripoli in the early hours before coming under attack
Mean streets: Men loyal to Colonel Gaddafi are the shown on TV to be the only ones left roaming Tripoli last night after protesters were fired on by security force
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