Unconfirmed at this point
Libyan rebels holding British SAS unit: reports
Updated 1 hour 57 minutes ago
On patrol: Rebel paratroopers and anti-government fighters in Benghazi (AFP: Patrick Baz)
Britian's Sunday Times newspaper is reporting that Libyan rebels have captured a British special forces unit in the east of the country.
The group of eight soldiers were apparently on a secret diplomatic mission to make contact with opposition leaders.
The newspaper says the team were intercepted as they escorted a junior diplomat through rebel-held territory.
The uninvited appearance of special forces alongside the diplomat "angered Libyan opposition figures who ordered the soldiers to be locked up on a military base," the newspaper said.
The British Foreign Office says it can not "confirm or deny" the report.
The Ministry of Defence in London was not immediately available for comment, but routinely does not discuss special forces operations.
Opponents of the Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi fear he could use any evidence of Western military intervention against the rebel's uprising.
The newspaper said that according to Libyan sources, the soldiers were taken by rebels to Libya's second city Benghazi, held by the opposition, and hauled up before a senior figure.
The Sunday Times said a British source, who confirmed the men had been detained, said the diplomat they were protecting had wanted to make contact with the rebels.
It cited a source close to the opposition leadership as saying rebel officials were worried that Libyan people might think from the escort party that "foreign troops have started to interfere by landing in Libya".
British service personnel have already been involved in the rescue of British nationals working on oil installations in remote desert camps.
Prime minister David Cameron said last week that Western countries should be stepping up contact with the Libyan opposition to gain a greater understanding of their intentions.
Foreign secretary William Hague held telephone talks on Wednesday with General Abdel Fatah Yunis, the former Libyan interior minister who defected, about the situation on the ground.
Gunfire rocks Tripoli
Meanwhile, heavy automatic weapons fire has erupted in the Libyan capital Tripoli, the first such outbreak in Mr Gaddafi's main stronghold.
It was unclear who was doing the shooting, which started at 5:45am local time, just before daybreak, or what had caused it.
Machine gun volleys, some of them heavy calibre, were reverberating around central Tripoli, along with ambulance sirens, pro-Gaddafi chants, whistling and a cacophony of car horns as vehicles sped through the vicinity.
A government spokesman denied any fighting was underway in Tripoli.
"I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, there is no fighting going on in Tripoli," said spokesman Mussa Ibrahim.
"Everything is safe. Tripoli is 100 percent under control. What you are hearing is celebratory fireworks. People are in the streets, dancing in the square."
He warned, however: "I would like to advise not to go there for your safety."
Libyan rebels were also advancing from the east on Mr Gaddafi's hometown, Sirte, around 500 km from Tripoli, and clinging to positions in a western town near the capital after withstanding two armoured assaults by government forces.
A tense calm settled over the western town of Zawiya after nightfall on Saturday, with rifle-toting insurgents on rooftops and manning checkpoints on streets leading into the centre.
A doctor in Zawiya, some 50km west of Tripoli, said at least 30 people, mostly civilians, were killed during fighting on Saturday that wrecked the town centre, raising to at least 60 the death toll from two days of battles.
The rebels said they were bracing for another tank and artillery attack by government on Sunday.
Almost 600 km to the east along Libya's Mediterranean coast, insurgents said they took the town of Bin Jawad on Saturday, on the heels of seizing the oil port of Ras Lanuf, and were thrusting westwards towards Sirte.
- ABC/AFP/Reuters
It will be interesting to get some more reliable background on this.. its not exactly normal "snatch" work, so one would assume that it was relatively benign. 8 is not a normal squadron construct either....
Libyan rebels holding British SAS unit: reports
Updated 1 hour 57 minutes ago
On patrol: Rebel paratroopers and anti-government fighters in Benghazi (AFP: Patrick Baz)
Britian's Sunday Times newspaper is reporting that Libyan rebels have captured a British special forces unit in the east of the country.
The group of eight soldiers were apparently on a secret diplomatic mission to make contact with opposition leaders.
The newspaper says the team were intercepted as they escorted a junior diplomat through rebel-held territory.
The uninvited appearance of special forces alongside the diplomat "angered Libyan opposition figures who ordered the soldiers to be locked up on a military base," the newspaper said.
The British Foreign Office says it can not "confirm or deny" the report.
The Ministry of Defence in London was not immediately available for comment, but routinely does not discuss special forces operations.
Opponents of the Libyan leader Moamar Gaddafi fear he could use any evidence of Western military intervention against the rebel's uprising.
The newspaper said that according to Libyan sources, the soldiers were taken by rebels to Libya's second city Benghazi, held by the opposition, and hauled up before a senior figure.
The Sunday Times said a British source, who confirmed the men had been detained, said the diplomat they were protecting had wanted to make contact with the rebels.
It cited a source close to the opposition leadership as saying rebel officials were worried that Libyan people might think from the escort party that "foreign troops have started to interfere by landing in Libya".
British service personnel have already been involved in the rescue of British nationals working on oil installations in remote desert camps.
Prime minister David Cameron said last week that Western countries should be stepping up contact with the Libyan opposition to gain a greater understanding of their intentions.
Foreign secretary William Hague held telephone talks on Wednesday with General Abdel Fatah Yunis, the former Libyan interior minister who defected, about the situation on the ground.
Gunfire rocks Tripoli
Meanwhile, heavy automatic weapons fire has erupted in the Libyan capital Tripoli, the first such outbreak in Mr Gaddafi's main stronghold.
It was unclear who was doing the shooting, which started at 5:45am local time, just before daybreak, or what had caused it.
Machine gun volleys, some of them heavy calibre, were reverberating around central Tripoli, along with ambulance sirens, pro-Gaddafi chants, whistling and a cacophony of car horns as vehicles sped through the vicinity.
A government spokesman denied any fighting was underway in Tripoli.
"I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, I assure you, there is no fighting going on in Tripoli," said spokesman Mussa Ibrahim.
"Everything is safe. Tripoli is 100 percent under control. What you are hearing is celebratory fireworks. People are in the streets, dancing in the square."
He warned, however: "I would like to advise not to go there for your safety."
Libyan rebels were also advancing from the east on Mr Gaddafi's hometown, Sirte, around 500 km from Tripoli, and clinging to positions in a western town near the capital after withstanding two armoured assaults by government forces.
A tense calm settled over the western town of Zawiya after nightfall on Saturday, with rifle-toting insurgents on rooftops and manning checkpoints on streets leading into the centre.
A doctor in Zawiya, some 50km west of Tripoli, said at least 30 people, mostly civilians, were killed during fighting on Saturday that wrecked the town centre, raising to at least 60 the death toll from two days of battles.
The rebels said they were bracing for another tank and artillery attack by government on Sunday.
Almost 600 km to the east along Libya's Mediterranean coast, insurgents said they took the town of Bin Jawad on Saturday, on the heels of seizing the oil port of Ras Lanuf, and were thrusting westwards towards Sirte.
- ABC/AFP/Reuters
It will be interesting to get some more reliable background on this.. its not exactly normal "snatch" work, so one would assume that it was relatively benign. 8 is not a normal squadron construct either....