Libyan state releases official death toll

The Libyan state released its first death toll figures, saying 300 people - 189 civilians and 111 soldiers - had been killed in the past week, RTE News reports.

The largest number of fatalities were said to have been in the eastern city of Benghazi, which is where most of the violence has occurred, an interior ministry spokesman said.

104 civilians and 10 soldiers were killed in Bengazi, the Gaddafi regime said.

Opposition groups put the figure far higher. UN rights chief Navi Pillay said the killing could amount to crimes against humanity and has demanded an international probe.

Muammar Gaddafi has made a defiant address to the Libyan nation, saying he has no intention of stepping down as leader.

In a live, apparently unscripted speech on national television, the 68-year-old said, 'Muammar Gaddafi is the leader of a revolution; Muammar Gaddafi has no official position in order for him to resign. He is the leader of the revolution forever.'

'We Libyans have resisted the United States and Britain in the past. We will not surrender.'

In a rambling speech, he insisted he had the backing of the Libyan people. 'Capture the rats,' he said of anti-regime demonstrators.