Libyan
rebels fighting to overthrow Col Muammar Gaddafi are claiming to have
captured two strategic coastal cities as they close in on Tripoli.
They say they have seized Zlitan, 160km (100 miles) east of
the capital, and Zawiya, about 30km west of Tripoli, following fierce
battles on Friday.
The government denies the rebel claims, saying the army is in control in both cities, Reuters news agency reports.
Meanwhile, plans are being made to evacuate many foreigners from Tripoli.
'Big celebration'
"The fighters have liberated Zlitan and they are fighting west
of the city," Munir Ramzi of the opposition Misrata Military Council
was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
Thirty-one rebels were killed and 120 wounded in heavy fighting which lasted for much of Friday, he said.
The city represents a key position in the path from nearby
Misrata, which until recently was besieged by Col Gaddafi's forces, to
Tripoli.
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Rebel fighter Hussein Azzwaik: "Zawiya has been liberated"
In Zawiya, Hussein Azzwaik, an oil engineer involved in the
uprising, told the BBC the rebels had "pushed Col Gaddafi's forces all
the way out of Zawiya".
"We are just having a big celebration right now in the city centre."
Capturing the town cuts the main road from Tripoli to Tunisia, severing the principal supply route for Col Gaddafi's forces.
On Thursday, rebel forces seized an oil refinery outside Zawiya, which supplied the government troops with fuel.
However, Col Gaddafi's Information Minister Moussa Ibrahim
said late on Friday that government troops had the upper hand in both
Zlitan and Zawiya scorned what he described as "bands of insurgents",
according to Reuters.
Early on Saturday, the rebels also said they had captured all of the strategic eastern port city of Brega, according to the AP.
This claim has not been independently confirmed.
Rebel forces have also moved towards Tripoli from the south.
Nato, enforcing a UN-mandated no-fly zone to protect civilians since March, controls sea access to Tripoli.
Evacuation plans
Meanwhile, Col Gaddafi's former deputy has defected, rebels said, and was on his way to Europe.
Abdel Salam Jalloud helped Col Gaddafi come to power in the
1969 coup that toppled the monarchy but fell out with him in the 1990s.
Libya's conflict broke out in February, inspired by uprisings
in Tunisia and Egypt which toppled the presidents of those countries.
Rebels in the east rapidly consolidated their gains, but a
stalemate developed in the west as rebels there faced overwhelming
military force.
The fighting has stranded thousands of migrant workers - many of them Egyptians - in Tripoli.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said it was planning to evacuate them in the coming days.
Since the conflict in Libya began, an estimated 600,000
migrant workers have fled the country, many with the help of the IOM,
but many remain.
Rebels quickly consolidated gains in the east of the country, but until recently Col Gaddafi's forces held much of the west.
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