<p><br /> Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is fighting an increasingly bloody battle to hang on to power after anti-government protests against his 41-year rule struck the capital Tripoli.<br /> </p><p><br /> Residents reported gunfire in parts of Tripoli and one political activist said warplanes had bombed the city.<br /> </p><p><br /> "What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Adel Mohamed Saleh said in a live broadcast on Al Jazeera television. "Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car they will hit you."<br /> </p><p><br /> Two Libyan fighter jets landed in Malta, their pilots defecting after they had been ordered to bomb protesters, Maltese government officials said.<br /> </p><p><br /> Al Jazeera television quoted medical sources as saying 61 people had been killed in the latest protests in Tripoli.<br /> </p><p><br /> Human Rights Watch said at least 233 people had been killed in five days of violence, but opposition groups put the figure much higher.<br /> </p><p><br /> UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon held an extensive discussion with Gaddafi on Monday, condemned the escalating violence in Libya and told him it "must stop immediately," according to a UN spokesman.<br /> </p><p><br /> But as clashes continued across the country, rumours began to circulate that Colonel Gaddafi may have fled to Venezuela.<br /> </p><p><br /> British foreign secretary William Hague fuelled the speculation saying: "About whether Col. Gaddafi, is in Venezuela, I have no information that says he is although I have seen some information that suggests he is on his way there."<br /> </p><p><br /> Libya's deputy envoy to the UN called on Colonel Gaddafi to step down, and accused his government of genocide.<br /> </p><p><br /> Ibrahim Dabbashi said that if the 68-year-old leader did not relinquish power, "the Libyan people will get rid of him".<br /> </p>
