US Edition As the violence in the Arab dictatorship continued, a regional medical coordinator in the eastern city of Benghazi said bodies were piling up in hospitals.
"We must be talking at least 150 dead since the start of the demonstrations last week, with many more seriously injured," he said.
"Tanks and helicopter gunships full of foreign mercenaries are fighting gangs of demonstrators. At least one dead man had been hit by an anti-aircraft missile, while other bodies are riddled with heavy machine gun fire."
Fighting has also broken out in the cities of Al-Bayda, Ajdabiya, Zawiya, and Darnah, with eye-witnesses reporting Molotov cocktails, rifles and even antique Arabic sabres being used by demonstrators.
Protestors in Ajdabiya even claimed that it was now a "a Free City" after the HQ of Gaddafi's Revolutionary Committee was burned down on Friday, along with 14 other buildings.
There were also reports of bystanders, including women and children, leaping to their deaths from high bridges as they tried to escape battle-hardened mercenaries from neighbouring countries like Chad.
Meanwhile, the government in Tripoli has shut down a range of media, including internet providers, social networking sites and the signals of western news channels.
Facebook and the website of Al-Jazeera, the international Arab TV network, were among the first to go, with journalists were also being refused entry into the country.
As he suffered the most serious threat to his rule since coming to power in 1969, Gaddafi made it clear that he did not want a repeat of the so-called Facebook Revolutions which ended the rule of despots in Egypt and Tunisia this year.
"Gaddafi's fear is that eastern cities will fall, and the revolt a full-scale will reach Tripol'", said Omar, a 24-year-old civil servant in Benghazi, who asked for his surname to be withheld for security reasons.
There have been sporadic demonstrations in the Libyan capital, with crowds of youths setting fire to cars, but any serious trouble has soon been stamped out by the army.
Omar added: "Tanks are being used in Benghazi, but there are already soldiers joining the demonstrators. They are on the side of the people." While low-paid Libyan army recruits are always likely to desert, the dictator's third son, Saadi Gaddafi, was said to be coordinating African mercenaries to act as shock troops against the protesters.
A Libyan journalist who is currently banned from writing about the trouble because of a news black-out imposed by Gaddafi said: "Some of these mercenary shock troops have been killed or captured, and some of them are said to on the equivalent of around 500 dollars a day.
"These killers are coming from countries like Chad. They're vicious killers. People are so terrified of them that they've been doing everything possible to get away."
Women and children were seen jumping off the Giuliana Bridge in Benghazi to get away. Many of them were killed by the impact of hitting the water, while others were drowned.
Saadi Gaddafi, a 37-year-old former professional footballer, is fiercely loyal to his father, and a possible heir to the Colonel's position.
Fatih, another Benghazi resident, aged 26 and unemployed, said that many of the mercenaries did not speak Arabic but only French "making them impossible to reason with."
"They don't ask questions - they just shoot live ammunition,' she said. "Innocent people are getting caught up in all this. They are being killed for simply staying at home. House-to-house searches are taking place as the security forces look for weapons."
One of the worst attacks in Benghazi on Saturday was on protesters including judges camped in front of the city's law courts. Tear gas was fired at the demonstrators first, and then machine guns.
Meanwhile, text messages sent to mobile phone subscribers across Libya from the Gaddafi regime read: "We congratulate those who understand that interfering with national unity threatens the future of generations."
Benghazi is 600 miles east of Tripoli, the capital of Libya, and a hotbed of anti-Gaddafi feeling.
Libya itself is one of the biggest oil and gas exporters in the world, with companies like BP cashing in on its reserves following a recent period of detente with the west.
However, the unemployment rate is at 30 per cent, housing is in short supply, and there is no recognised political opposition whatsoever.
While Gaddafi himself has managed to soften his image abroad by giving up support for terrorist groups including the IRA, he remains a hate figure for many domestically.
Ahmed, a pro-democracy campaigner in Tripoli, said: "He's one of the most odious Arab dictators in the world - a real thug in a uniform who sees nothing wrong with killing people to achieve his goals. If this turns into a full-scale revolution then it will be the best thing which happened to Arab democracy."
Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "I condemn the violence in Libya, including reports of the use of heavy weapons fire and a unit of snipers against demonstrators. This is clearly unacceptable and horrifying."