Libyan fighters said they were under 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Col. Gadhafi's key iron grip of Tripoli on Sunday, a day after resistance rebels initiated their first hit on the capital itself.

Rebels said a 600-strong fighter force that get started from Zawiya has attained the remote areas of the village of Jedaim and was coming under profound fire from government forces on the eastern side of the town.

Murad Dabdoub, a rebel who came back to Zawiya from the front, told The Associated Press that Gadhafi's loyal forces were beating rebel positions with rockets, mortars and anti-aircraft fire.

The fighters' arrival at Jedaim was also verified by Abdul-Bari Gilan, a doctor in Zawiya. He told the AP that he had treated a rebel who was injured in the fighting at Jedaim.

NATO said the changing encounter lines and focus on fighting in towns and villages are building it harder to recognize and engage objectives for airstrikes.

"It's much difficult to do in a town area," he said. "This needs very special and deep intelligence to get without jeopardizing the national population."

An AP reporter in Tripoli, in the mean time, said the city was mostly quiet on Sunday after a night of gunfire and blasts.

Libyan rebels said Saturday that they had initiated their first assault on Tripoli in bringing together with NATO and gun-battles and mortar rounds rocked the city. NATO aircraft also made grave bombing runs after nightfall, with noisy blasts booming throughout the city.

Libyan government TV on Saturday televised what come out to be a live audio message by Gadhafi in which he criticized the fighters as conspirators and "rats" those were destroying Libya apart and said they were being persuaded from city to city — a mirror image of actuality.

"Libyans desired to enjoy a peaceful Ramadan," he said. "In its place they have been made into refugees. What are we? Palestinians?" He entitled on Libyans to march by the millions on cities across the nation to calmly liberate them.

Moussa Ibrahim regime spokesman showed on Libyan television to reject there was an rebellion in Tripoli.

"Certain there were some armed insurgents who ran away into some neighborhoods and there were some fighting, but we dealt with it within a half hour and it is now peaceful," he said.

The alleges from both sides could not constantly be independently confirmed.

Tripoli has been Gadhafi's stronghold since the Libyan civil war started some six months before, but it is not obvious whether the besieged leader was still there.

The seize of Tripoli would almost surely herald the end of Gadhafi's long rule, in excess of 40 years after the rebel leader detained power in a military coup that collapsed the kingdom of the huge North African nation.

In the mean time, Gadhafi's son and one-time heir evident Seif al-Islam delivered a same rebellious message on Saturday when he speeches supporters. He told them: "We are not yielding; it is impossible to raise the white flag."

"Surrender or the white flag are discarded because this is not the choice of Moammar Gadhafi or Seif al-Islam, it is the choice of the Libyan nation," he said.

According to the US defense official, Armed forces trustworthy to Muammar Gaddafi have ablaze a Scud missile for the first time in the country's six-month fighting.

They say it was initiated from near the coastal city of Sirte and aimed at Brega - recently occupied by activists - but landed safely in the desert. Gaddafi loyal forces are thought to have in excess of 200 Scuds in their armory.

The move comes as the rebels go on a push towards the capital, Tripoli.

On Monday they advanced into two tactically important towns controlling access to the capital, from the west and the south. Skirmishing was reported in both Zawiya, 50km (30 miles) west of Tripoli, and Gharyan, 80km (50 miles) to the south.

Medics outside Zawiya told Reuters news agency that sniper and mortar ablaze from ruler forces had left three civilians dead.  Col Gaddafi's forces are still considered to capture the Zawiya oil refinery - the only one in western Libya - where they acquire largely of their fuel.

Prior, the rebels said they had captured Gharyan - a town in the Nafusa Mountains that bestrides the road linking Tripoli with Sabha, Sorman - west along the road from Zawiya to Tunisia - and Tiji, though this has not been verified by the locals.

If the towns drop to the rebels, they would have Tripoli enclosed by land, with Nato blocking sea access. .0The BBC's Matthew Price in Tripoli says how much region the rebels captured and for how long they can seize it is not clear.

But both activists and US said Col Gaddafi was coming under mounting pressure.

Ahmed Bani, Rebel spokesman said the utilization of a Scud was a symbol of  extreme anxiety by the Libyan leader. "This man will utilize any weapon essential to keep his supervision going and resume his rule, even for few hours," he said.

"It's becoming gradually more obvious that Gaddafi's days are figured," said White House spokesman Jay Carney. However, in an audio message broadcast on Libyan state TV on Monday Col Gaddafi was insolent. "The end of the colonizer is shut down and the end of the rats is close," he said.

He requested to his supporters to "ready for the fight to free" Libya.

The Scud initiate was detected by US forces, who say the missile was launched on Sunday morning and landed in the desert about 80km (50 miles) outside the intentional port of Brega.

There was no explanation from Libyan officials. The two sides have fought over Brega, with capture swinging back and forth.

Scud missiles have a series of up to about 500km (800km) and can carry a warhead of up to about one tonne.

Prior in the skirmish the Nato-led allied targeted rocket launchers and Scud missile containers near Sirte, saying the weapons could be fired against civilians or on areas beyond Col Gaddafi's control. Rebels rejected that their National Transitional Council (NTC) has held discussions with representatives of Col Gaddafi in Tunisia.

"There is no talking or discussions between the Gaddafi rule and the NTC in Tunisia or anywhere else," Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, NTC vice-chairman, told AFP news agency.

A UN special ambassador, Abdul Ilah al-Khatib, whose role is to discuss a ceasefire, has arrived in Tunis, and sources in the Tunisian security services said the two sides had met at a hotel on the Mediterranean resort island of Djerba on Sunday.

A UN spokesman said he had "no solid information" on any such discussions.

In the meantime, the Netherlands on Monday unfroze $143m (100m euros; £87m) in detained Libyan assets and gave the funds to the World Health Organization. Dutch government’s spokesman said the funds would be utilized to give medicines and surgical equipment in areas held by activists.