TRIPOLI: Protesters overran several Libyan cities on Monday and regime stalwarts started defecting as the pillars of Muammar Qadhafi’s four-decade dictatorial rule began to crumble.

A suggestion in Brussels by British Foreign Secretary William Hague that Qadhafi may have left the country for Venezuela was swiftly denied by Caracas.

Two Libyan fighter pilots — both colonels — flew their Mirage F1 jets to Malta and said they had defected after being ordered to attack protesters in Benghazi, Maltese military and official sources told AFP. Malta is the closest European state to Libya, just 340 kilometres north of its coastline.

Italy put all military air bases on maximum alert after the fighters landed, ANSA news agency reported.

Libyan diplomats at the United Nations joined calls for Qadhafi to quit, US media reported, with deputy ambassador Ibrahim Dabbashi telling CNN Qadhafi has “declared war” on the Libyan people and is committing “genocide”.

Benghazi, Libya’s second city and an opposition stronghold in the east, fell to anti-regime demonstrators after military units deserted, the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) reported earlier.

Gunfire also rattled in the capital Tripoli on Monday, where protesters attacked police stations and the offices of the state broadcaster, Qadhafi’s mouthpiece, and set government buildings ablaze.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon told Qadhafi in a phone call that the violence “must stop immediately” and called for a broad-based dialogue, a UN spokesman said.

Mr Hague said Qadhafi may be en route to Venezuela, citing “information that suggests he is on his way,” but a Venezuelan official who asked not to be identified retorted: “It’s not true.”

US President Barack Obama was “considering all appropriate actions” as Washington ordered all non-essential staff out of Libya and warned Americans to avoid travel to the north African country.

Libyan state television said security forces were battling “dens of terrorists” in a sweep that has killed a number of people, without specifying where or who was being targeted.

State television reported that Qadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, had set up a commission to probe “the sad events”, and that it would include “members of Libyan and foreign rights organisations”. He had already appeared on television overnight to warn of looming civil conflict.

“Libya is at a crossroads. If we do not agree today on reforms... rivers of blood will run through Libya,” he said in a bellicose but rambling speech that also betrayed a hint of desperation.

“We will take up arms... we will fight to the last bullet. We will destroy seditious elements. If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other... Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia.” —AFP