Libyan opposition seizes major city

Benghazi, Libya (CNN) — The Libyan capital was a ghost town Thursday morning, witnesses said, as anti-government protesters declared victory elsewhere after reportedly seizing control of the country’s third-largest city.

Misrata — also spelled as Misurata — is now in the hands of the opposition, who have driven out the mercenaries, according to witnesses and multiple media reports.

Witnesses and multiple reports also said that the town of Az Zintan was under opposition control.

The opposition also controls Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi, where crowds cheered as international journalists drove through the city. The only shooting that could be heard was celebratory gunfire.

“When they saw us arrive, they just exploded with cheers and clapping, people saying “thank you, thank you” in English, throwing candy and dates inside the car,” CNN’s Ben Wedeman told AC360.

“It was just this incredible welcome that really drove home the point that these people are desperate for the world’s attention, desperate to get their stories out,” said Wedeman, the first Western television correspondent to enter and report from Libya during the crisis.

Men in their 20s were guarding the city with shotguns, clubs or hunting knives.

“They certainly aren’t lacking in enthusiasm, in serious dedication to defending their city,” Wedeman said. “What they’re lacking is the sort of thing that Moammar Gadhafi’s forces have: tanks, anti-aircraft guns, aircraft, warships.”

But the capital, Tripoli, was a different story. Sounds of gunfire erupted at dawn Thursday as chanting crowds fled. Government security forces tightened their grip on the Libyan capital, according to sources. In one of the neighborhoods, no one was allowed in or out.

“There’s nobody walking in the street, nobody is trying to get out, even to look through the window,” a resident who did not want to be identified for security reasons told AC360. “It’s a little scary.”

The caller said she is risking her life by talking to the media.

“I’ve been trying to keep my identity hidden,” the woman said. “There are reported kidnappings happening in homes for anybody credible that is talking to the media and giving them the truth about what’s happening in Libya.”

CNN could not confirm reports for many areas in Libya. The Libyan government maintains tight control on communications and has not responded to repeated requests from CNN for access to the country. CNN has interviewed numerous witnesses by phone.

As the unrest entered its 10th day, governments around the world scrambled to get their citizens out of the country, while leaders asked Gadhafi to halt military actions against demonstrators. Libyan state television reported Thursday that a statement from Gadhafi is imminent.

A ferry chartered by the United States to evacuate citizens from Libya remained in port in Tripoli because of bad weather Thursday. Citizens are safe onboard and the ship is expected to leave at some point Thursday, diplomatic sources said.

In his strongest and most direct statements to date on the unrest in Libya, U.S. President Barack Obama said a unified international response was forming against Gadhafi’s use of violence against protesters.

“The suffering and bloodshed is outrageous and it is unacceptable,” Obama said Wednesday.

He announced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would travel to Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday to join a Human Rights Council meeting to negotiate a resolution on Libya.

The Pentagon is looking at “all options” it can offer Obama in dealing with the Libyan crisis, a senior U.S. military official told CNN, in the first indication the crisis could take on a military dimension.

“Our job is to give options from the military side and that is what we are thinking about now,” said the official, who declined to be identified because of the extremely sensitive nature of the situation. “We will provide the president with options should he need them.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for sanctions against the nation and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said those responsible for attacks on civilians must be held legally accountable.

Because of the difficulties from reporting from within the country, it has been difficult to determine how many people have died in the violence.

Human Rights Watch said earlier this week that at least 233 people have been killed during the unrest. In Benghazi alone, at least 202 people have been killed since protests began last week, said the head of the largest trauma hospital there.

Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, has said the death toll could be as high as 800. And in a speech to senate, the Italian foreign minister placed the toll as high as 1,000 deaths, citing unconfirmed reports.

He said the claim from official sources that 200 to 300 people have died nationwide lacks credibility.

For his part, a defiant Ghadafi has vowed to die a martyr, and urged his supporters to take back the streets from anti-government protesters.

He blamed the unrest on “rats” who are “agents” of foreign intelligence services and warned that people who carry weapons against the country will be executed.

The U.N. Human Rights Council is expected to meet Friday to consider a resolution to suspend Libya from the council, the French foreign ministry said.

CNN’s Richard Roth, Waffa Munayyer, Pam Benson, Ben Brumfield, Amir Ahmed, Ingrid Formanek, Eve Bower, Salma Abdelaziz, Mitra Mobasherat and Jaime FlorCruz contributed to this report