Rebels fought forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for a second day in Zawiyah, bringing the revolt against his rule to within about 20km of the capital.
A rebel spokesman said 13 rebel fighters and civilians were killed in fighting there yesterday, and the main road to neighbouring Tunisia - a supply line that has kept the country running despite sanctions - was shut.
Zawiyah was also the scene of fierce battles soon after a nationwide rebellion against Gaddafi's 41-year rule in February.
The fresh outbreak of fighting in Zawiyah, which is the site of a big oil refinery, marks the closest the armed rebellion has come to Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital for months.
Accounts from Zawiyah could not be independently verified because reporters were not able to reach the areas where the violence was taking place.
Officials in Tripoli say there is no serious fighting in Zawiyah, just small groups of fighters who have gone there from rebel-held areas to ‘make trouble’.
Meanwhile, Libyan state television has broadcast pictures of Col Gaddafi meeting the president of the international chess federation.
Russia's Interfax news agency quoted Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, who is also a Russian provincial governor, as saying he played a game of chess in Tripoli today with Gaddafi.
He said the Libyan leader told him he had no intention of leaving the country.
Elsewhere, six rebel fighters were killed by pro-Gaddafi forces when they clashed in farmland between Misrata and the neighbouring town of Zlitan.
Pro-Gaddafi forces also killed five people in an artillery bombardment of Zintan, part of the rebel-held Western Mountains region, according to a rebel spokesman.
Another rebel spokesman said NATO warplanes had, for the first time, attacked government troops in Ghezaya on the border with Tunisia.
Forces loyal to Gaddafi based in Ghezaya had been trying to take back control of a nearby border crossing on which the Western Mountains rebels depend for bringing in supplies.
Gaddafi says he has no intention of bowing to international pressure to step down. He has called the NATO intervention with warplanes and attack helicopters an act of colonial aggression aimed at grabbing Libya's oil.
The United Arab Emirates said it had recognised the Libyan rebel council as the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahayan said the UAE will open a representative office in Benghazi soon.
Meanwhile, International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has said he hoped that Gaddafi 'will be arrested' by his people in the coming weeks on crimes against humanity charges.
Last month, the ICC prosecutor said he would seek arrest warrants for three people considered most responsible for crimes against humanity in Libya, Gaddafi, his son Seif Al-Islam and Libyan intelligence chief Abdallah Al-Senoussi.
