Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have launched new air raids on the oil city of Ras Lanuf and are closing in on the western town of Az Zawiyah.
Fresh reports of rockets landing on Ras Lanuf came on Wednesday, with Al Jazeera's correspondent there saying there was intense fighting taking place between revolution and the government's fighter jets.
She said the oil facility there had been hit in three places.
Khaled Kwafi, a member of the opposition forces based on the outskirts of Ras Lanuf, told Al Jazeera that people were killed and injured in the attack.
"An hour ago we saw warplanes in the sky. We heard very huge explosions and lots of smoke. Our people tried to go there but they were stopped," he said.
"We heard there are people killed and injured there."
In addition to attacks in Ras Lanuf, forces loyal to Gaddafi launched a bombardment near revolution positions around the east Libyan oil terminal of Sidrah on Wednesday, blowing up storage tanks at the facility.
Opposition forces retaliated by firing back with rockets as a fireball exploded from one of the oil tanks and the sky above the terminal filled with black smoke.
Clashes were also reported from the coastal town of Bin Jawad, where a witness told Reuters that the Libyan military was using "gunboats" against opposition forces. Other witnesses reported seeing warplanes bomb oil facilities.
The Libyan government claimed it has taken back Bin Jawad after heavy shelling there.
Az Zawiyah has been the focus of repeated battles between pro- and anti-government forces. Late on Wednesday, a witness told Reuters that the opposition had retaken the town square, after being driven from it earlier in the day. The Gaddafi government disputed that claim, saying that it had retaken the town.
The claims cannot be independently verified, as the government has refused journalists access to the city, despite promises to conduct a tour.
A doctor told Reuters the earlier offensive had left many bodies lying in the streets, with at least 40 people said to have been killed.
They said bodies were lying unrecovered in the ruins of many buildings destroyed in air raids earlier in the week and there was no one in the streets of the centre.
"We can see the tanks. The tanks are everywhere," an opposition fighter told Reuters by phone from inside the city.
One doctor there said that at least forty people were killed in the day's fighting.
On Wednesday, three of Kaddafi private planes left Tripoli. At least one of them, carrying a high-ranking official for talks with the head of the Arab League, landed in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
PHOTO CAPTION
Opposition forces move rockets during clashes with pro-Gaddafi forces between Ras Lanuf and Bin Jawad, March 9, 2011.
Al-Jazeera