Anti-aircraft fire has erupted over the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after a day of heavy fighting between pro-democracy fighters and forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Anti-aircraft crews began firing shortly after nightfall in the capital on Tuesday Coach Bags, four nights after an international military coalition launched an operation enforce a no-fly zone over the country.
"We've been hearing big noises. We've heard some explosions in the last 10 minutes," Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, reporting from Tripoli, said.
"We haven't seen any smoke on the horizon. People are firing guns in defiance. We're in the loyalist heartland here where people are utterly defiant of the international effort to force Gaddafi to surrender, as they would see it.
"The anti-aircraft fire has not been as intense [as Monday night when two naval installations outside the city were hit]. Perhaps they feel in the immediate neighbourhood that most of the significant targets have already been hit."
The AFP news agency reported that at least two blasts were heard at a distance before the capital's air defences opened fire.
Several strong detonations followed, said the journalists who were unable to determine the site of the explosions.
They said anti-aircraft fire streaked into the night sky for around 10 minutes, especially in the area near Gaddafi's residence, not far from the hotel where the international press corps is housed.
In the previous night's operations, the coalition air campaign suffered its first loss with the crash of a US fighter jet in the rebel-held east.
Both crew ejected safely.
The no-fly zone is intended to protect civilians from attack by forces loyal to Gaddafi in their battles with opposition fighters bridge rectifier. The United States announced on Tuesday that it is shifting its focus to widen the no-fly zone across the north African country.
Despite the strikes, Gaddafi has remained defiant. The Libyan leader made a public appearance at his Bab Al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli that was the target on Sunday of a coalition missile strike, Libyan state television reported.
In televised remarks, Gaddafi said Libya was "ready for battle, be it long or short".
"We will win this battle," footage showed him telling supporters at the compound. "The masses were the strongest anti-air defences."
Fighting rages
The developments came after a day of intense fighting in the three Libyan cities of Misurata, Ajdabiya and Zintan.
Forces loyal to Gaddafi have been shelling Misurata for days, pressing their siege of the embattled western city. Four children were killed in the shelling on Tuesday and at least 40 people were killed on Monday, a resident said.
There was also fierce fighting seamless steel pipe further east in Ajdabiya. Opposition fighters were seen retreating in the face of an attack by government forces.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from an area close to Ajdabiya, said there had been clashes outside the city.
"There's been heavy fighting and heavy shelling going on ... the rebels told me there have been heavy casualties and there are a number of corpses between here and the town [of Ajdabiya] that they have been unable to reach," he said.
Meanwhile, around 106km south of Tripoli, Libyan pro-democracy fighters forced government troops to withdraw from the outskirts of Zintan, breaking a siege of the town.
A resident of Zintan told the Reuters news agency that at least 10 people were killed in the bombardment by Gaddafi's forces.
"Gaddafi's forces bombarded Zintan this morning and killed 10 to 15 people," Abdulrahman said.
"After the bombardment they retreated from the eastern area of Zintan. But they have not withdrawn from the northern area electronic ballast. There is still a huge number of soldiers there, backed with 50 to 60 tanks and several vehicles."
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