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BREGA, Libya, March 4 (UPI) -- Moammar Gadhafi's forces gunned down non-violent protesters Friday in Zawiya, Libya, 30 miles west of Tripoli, witnesses reported. While Libyan state TV reported the city had been secured, other sources said Zawiya was surrounded by Gadhafi's troops. CNN said at least 30 people had been killed, a toll that appeared almost certain to rise.
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A witness told CNN battalions of Gadhafi loyalists opened fire on protesters with mortar and machine guns in the city's Martyrs Square. The witness said government forces killed the occupants of an ambulance.
"Civilians were killed but we cannot say how many. We buried nine people so far," the witness told CNN. "The attack was indescribable. Direct gunfire was opened on people."
Several thousand people, mostly unarmed, had been rallying against the government when troops opened fire, shooting people as they ran away and attacking ambulances, Britain's Sky News reported.
One doctor at a hospital said at least 15 people had been killed and another 200 were wounded but CNN said it was not clear whether the casualties at that hospital came from the assault reported in Martyrs Square.
Estimates of the number of people killed so far during confrontations in Libya range from a U.N. estimate of 1,000 to an estimate of 2,000 by the Libyan ambassador to the United States, CNN reported.
Security forces in Tripoli fired tear gas and rubber bullets to break up crowds that gathered following Friday prayers, witnesses reported.
In the eastern city of al-Bayda, former Justice Minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, leader of the rebel National Libyan Council, spoke to a crowd, vowing "victory or death."
Attempts to hold anti-Gadhafi protests after Friday prayers in the capital were quickly broken up, The Wall Street Journal reported. Police used rubber bullets and tear gas on any crowds that gathered.
"It is impossible to distinguish between the pro-, the anti- or the indifferent -- even among people you have known for years," a Tripoli resident told the newspaper.
Families of some anti-government activists are in hiding after receiving threats from officials, the newspaper said.
In the strategic oil town of Brega, 500 miles east of Tripoli, rebels reinforced their stronghold, saying they expected more attacks after withstanding -- and in some cases repelling -- Gadhafi fighters for two days. Gadhafi's jets dropped bombs on or near the city early Thursday, residents said, but it wasn't clear what was hit.
The Journal cited a U.S. military official as observing many pilots appeared to have intentionally missed their targets. Warplanes raided the nearby rebel-held town of Ajbadiya, witnesses said.
At the White House Thursday, President Obama said publicly for the first time Gadhafi must give up power.
"The United States, and the entire world, continues to be outraged by the appalling violence against the Libyan people," Obama said at a news conference after meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
"Moammar Gadhafi has lost the legitimacy to lead," Obama said in his most forceful response to Libya's near-civil war. "Colonel Gadhafi needs to step down from power and leave."
Obama said Washington would consider imposing a "no-fly zone" over the country -- a step U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday would require pre-emptive strikes to destroy Libyan air defenses.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday opened a war crimes investigation of Gadhafi, his sons and top aides.
An estimated 200,000 people have fled Libya, the International Organization for Migration said.
