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International News Title: Libya Warplanes Bomb Rebel-Held Arms Depot, As Anti-Gadhafi Protesters Amass In Tripoli Libyan warplanes bombed an arms dump inside a rebel-held eastern district on Monday, two senior security sources said, as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Tripoli to demonstrate against long-time leader Muammar Gadhafi. "It's true, they hit an arms dump in Djabiya. No one was hurt. It happened at around 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon," said Fathi Abidy, a member of the security council set up by the temporary administration in Libya's main eastern city Benghazi. Another senior security source confirmed the same information. Also on Monday, the Libyan government said it would send an envoy to Benghazi, promising to deliver food, medicine and medical equipment to the riot-battered region. "It will be this evening," said a source in the government, who did not want to be named. "An envoy will depart from Tripoli to Benghazi. The envoy is carrying medicine and food and medical equipment to help the people in Benghazi." The Qatar-based al Jazeera television earlier reported that Gadhafi had appointed an envoy to speak to the rebels based around Benghazi. But the government source made no mention of any planned negotiations. According to the report, Gadhafi has appointed Libya's foreign intelligence chief, Bouzaid Dordah, to speak to the leadership of the eastern region. A spokesman for the newly formed National Libyan Council, based in the eastern city of Benghazi and which has described itself as the face of the revolution, said on Sunday, however, that he saw no room for negotiation with Gadhafi. Gadhafi's forces have been trying for days to push back a revolt that has won over large parts of the military, ended his control over eastern Libya and is holding the government at bay in western cities near the capital Tripoli. Meanwhile, Libya's eastern rebel army has begun urging young men eager to dash west to engage Gadhafi's forces to wait so they can turn them into an effective fighting force. Hundreds from the eastern city of Benghazi are setting off each day across the desert to Libya's capital, some carrying knives and assault rifles, residents told Reuters. But rebel officers say many more stayed behind to gather at makeshift training camps in schools and burnt-out barracks. "We can give them what they need: training in assault, in defending a position. They should know that we are here to protect the youth revolution," said Marai Lojeli, a colonel in his 50s. Meanwhile, about 400 people gathered Monday to demonstrate against Gadhafi in the Tajoura district in the east of the capital Tripoli. Soon after the protesters took to the streets in Tripoli, security forces pulled up and fired into the air to disperse the demonstration. A military helicopter was flying overhead and the vehicles of more security forces were in nearby streets. In Libya's third city Misrata, and in Zawiyah, a strategic refinery town 30 miles to the west, rebels with military backing were holding the town centers against repeated government attacks. Rebels in Misrata downed a military aircraft attempting to take back the area, a witness said. "An aircraft was shot down this morning while it was firing on the local radio station. Protesters captured its crew," the witness, Mohamed, told Reuters by telephone. "Fighting to control the military air base started last night and is still going on. Gadhafi's forces control only a small part of the base. Protesters control a large part of this base where there is ammunition." Foreign governments are increasing the pressure on Gadhafi to leave in the hope of ending fighting that has claimed at least 1,000 lives and restoring order to a country that accounts for 2 percent of the world's oil production. Regional experts expect rebels eventually to take the capital and kill or capture Gadhafi, but add that he has the firepower to foment chaos or civil war - a prospect he and his sons have warned of. Rebels holding Zawiyah said about 2,000 troops loyal to Gadhafi had surrounded the city on Monday and vowed to "do our best to fight them off". They will attack soon," said a former police major who switched sides and joined the rebellion. "If we are fighting for freedom, we are ready to die for it." Residents even in parts of the capital Tripoli have thrown up barricades against government forces. A general in the east of the country, where Gadhafi's power has evaporated, told Reuters his forces were ready to help rebels in the west. "Our brothers in Tripoli say: "We are fine so far, we do not need help'. If they ask for help we are ready to move," said General Ahmed el-Gatrani, one of most senior figures in the mutinous army in Benghazi. Opposition forces are largely in control of Libya's oil facilities, which are mostly located in the east, and output has been reduced to a trickle. Western leaders, emboldened by evacuations that have brought home many of their citizens from the vast desert state, have been speaking out clearly against Gadhafi. Wealthy states have sent planes and ships to bring home expatriate workers but many more, from poorer countries, are stranded. Thousands of Egyptians streamed into Tunisia on Sunday, complaining Cairo had done nothing to help them. The United Nations refugee agency said on Sunday nearly 100,000 people have fled violence in Libya in the past week in a growing humanitarian crisis.
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