More than 100 killed in Libyan protests

The 15 victims were mourning the loss of protesters who had been killed during anti-government demonstrations in the city during the past week, witnesses said. According to opposition groups, more than 100 have been killed during he six days of unrest as protests continue to rise against Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

Media reports from a hospital in Benghazi describe the situation as “a massacre”.

“The military is shooting at all the protesters with live bullets, I've seen it happen with my own eyes. The military forces are everywhere, even from the hospital I work, we are not safe. There was an 8-year-old boy who died the other day from a gunshot to the head - what did he do to deserve this?" a doctor told Al-Jazeera.

Another doctor from Benghazi said the hospital had received 15 bodies and was treating numerous people following the shootings at the funeral. He said the hospital had counted 44 deaths in total in three days, adding that it was struggling to treat the wounded.

"This is not a well-equipped hospital and these injuries come in waves. All are very serious injuries, involving the head, the chest and the abdomen. They are bullet injuries from high-velocity rifles,” the doctor explained.

The unrest in Libya has largely been centred in the eastern cities of Benghazi, Bayda and Tobruk. But news agencies report the protests have begun to spread to the country's west.

Witnesses said thousands of people took part in peaceful protests in the western city of Misurata. They were demonstrating against state brutality, rather than calling for a change in government.

Mohamed Abdulmalek, the chairman of Libya Watch - a human rights group that monitors abuses within the country - said the delay of protests in the west was due to the heavy presence of security forces there.

"The delay in the uprising in the west was not because the people did not want to go out," he said. "But the security presence in Tripoli, for example, was so intense that people gathered individually in the beginning. The Libyan regime anticipated this so the squares in Tripoli were occupied by security forces and therefore people were not allowed to gather.”