The Libyan government has denied rebel reports that Muammar Gaddafi's youngest son was killed in a Nato air strike on a front-line town in western Libya.

Libyan government troops attacked a town west of Tripoli today expanding the campaign to clear rebels from the western front around the capital.

Libyan war planes today launched airstrikes and troops engaged in heavy ground battles with a rebel force advancing west toward the capital Tripoli along the country’s Mediterranean coastline.

Muammar Gaddafi’s forces have launched a powerful attack in a bid to recapture a rebel-held city in fierce fighting which left at least 18 people dead.

Interpol has issued an international alert for Muammar Gaddafi and 15 other family members and close associates in a bid to help enforce sanctions against his regime.

International pressure on Muammar Gaddafi to end a crackdown on his opponents escalated as his loyalists fought rebels holding the two cities closest to the capital and his warplanes bombed an ammunition depot in the east.