US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Monday of using "mercenaries and thugs" to suppress a popular uprising as world leaders discussed new steps to oust him.

"We have seen Colonel Gaddafi's security forces open fire on peaceful protesters. They have used heavy weapons on unarmed civilians. Mercenaries and thugs have been turned loose to attack demonstrators," Clinton said in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"Through their actions, they have lost the legitimacy to govern. And the people of Libya have made themselves clear: It is time for Gaddafi to go - now, without further violence or delay."

Many of the world's foreign ministers, in Geneva for a high-level session of the Human Rights Council, were discussing next steps to pressure Gaddafi, whose violent bid to crush a two-week-old revolt against his 41-year rule has sparked international outrage.

The good news is that most of the 10,000 EU citizens in Libya have already been evacuated, Georgieva said. But she added that 650 Europeans in Libya wanted to be evacuated. They were looking for ways to leave the country but were located in remote areas and their evacuation was a challenging task, she said.

The commissioner desribed the situation in Libya as "hard to evaluate," as the UN's presence in the country before the crisis had been very limited and international NGOs had been practically absent.

The expatriates arrived in the city on two special chartered flights. Some 170 Pakistanis arrived in Lahore on the first Turkish Airlines flight, whereas 180 Pakistanis reached here on the second flight.

Over 10,000 Pakistanis are still stranded in Libya and require the government’s attention.

According to one estimate, Pakistan has around 18,000 of its nationals in Libya.

“Our Missions in the region have clear instructions from the Foreign Ministry to facilitate early and safe repatriation of Pakistani expatriates to Pakistan,” a statement from the Foreign Office spokesperson said on Monday.

The United States imposed sanctions on the Libyan government on Friday and said the legitimacy of longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had been "reduced to zero."

In response to Gaddafi's bloody crackdown on an uprising against his 41-year rule, President Barack Obama signed an executive order freezing the assets of Gaddafi, his family and top officials, as well as the Libyan government, the country's central bank and sovereign wealth funds.

"These sanctions therefore target the Gaddafi government, while protecting the assets that belong to the people of Libya," Obama said in a statement.

"By any measure, Muammar Gaddafi's government has violated international norms and common decency and must be held accountable," he added.

The U.S. Treasury said the action would block substantial sums of Libyan money and prevent it being looted by the Gaddafi government, but declined to offer a dollar value.

Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi launched a counter-attack on Thursday, fighting fierce gun battles with rebels who have threatened the Libyan leader by seizing important towns close to the capital.

The opposition were already in control of major centres in the east, including the regional capital Benghazi, and reports that the towns of Misrata and Zuara in the west had also fallen brought the tide of rebellion closer to Gaddafi's power base.

Gun battles in Zawiyah, an oil terminal 50 km (30 miles) from the capital, left 10 people dead, a Libyan newspaper said.

Gaddafi spoke on state television to offer condolences over those who had died, calling them Libya's children.

Speaking to the TV station by phone rather than appearing in person as he has in recent days, Gaddafi said people in Libya were fighting among themselves and had been taking drugs.

Calling for calm, he accused al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden of orchestrating the uprising against him.

Heavy gunfire broke out in Tripoli as forces loyal to Moammar Gaddafi tightened their grip on the Libyan capital while anti-government protesters claimed control of many cities elsewhere and top government officials and diplomats turn against the longtime leader.

While residents of cities in the eastern half of the country celebrated, raising the flags of the old monarchy, the mood in Tripoli was bleak. Residents were afraid to leave their houses, saying pro-Gadhafi forces were opening fire randomly in the streets.

International outrage mounted a day after Gaddafi vowed to defend his rule and called on supporters to crack down on anti-government protesters. Gadhafi’s retaliation has already been the harshest in the Arab world to the wave of anti-government protests sweeping the Middle East.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed in the violence in Libya were “credible,” although he stressed information about casualties was incomplete. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll at nearly 300, according to a partial count.

The fighting in Tripoli came as the opposition reportedly seized control of Misrata, with witnesses saying people were honking their horns and raising pre-Gadhafi flags from the monarchy to celebrate.

New videos posted by Libya’s opposition on Facebook also showed scores of anti-government protesters raising the flag from the pre-Gaddafi monarchy on a building in Zawiya, on the outskirts of Tripoli. Another showed protesters lining up cement blocks and setting tires ablaze to fortify positions on a square inside the capital.