Libyan site says national congress halts session

CAIRO - A Libyan Web site affiliated with one of longtime leader Moammar Gaddafi's sons said Friday that the national congress, under pressure from widespread unrest, has halted its session indefinitely and will take steps to reform the government when it reconvenes.

The Web site Quryna, which has ties to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, said many state executives will be replaced when the congress returns.

Four days of pro-democracy protests in Libya have pushed for an end to the elder Gaddafi's rule and have left dozens of demonstrators dead after clashes with security forces nationwide. There was another violent demonstration Friday in the eastern city of Benghazi, Libya's second-largest.

Gamal Bandour, a judge in Benghazi, said marchers clashed with security personnel after a funeral for 15 protesters who were fatally shot Thursday. On their way back from the service, protesters set fire to government buildings and police stations.

Quryna said security forces fired on the Benghazi protesters, killing 13 of them.

"The security forces were forced to use live bullets to stop the protesters when their protests turned violent and aggressive," it said.

The site also said that 1,000 inmates at a prison in Benghazi attacked guards and escaped and that three of them were fatally shot by guards.

The wave of pro-democracy protests that has swept across the Middle East has brought unprecedented pressure on leaders such as Gaddafi, who have held virtually unchecked power for decades.

Libya is rich in oil, but the gap between its haves and have-nots is wide. The CIA estimates that about one-third of Libyans live in poverty.

The U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said 24 people had died across the nation in unrest Wednesday and Thursday.

But the number quickly seemed outdated. Besides the deaths in Benghazi, a hospital official in the eastern city of Beyida told the Associated Press on Friday that the bodies of at least 23 slain protesters were at his facility, which was treating about 500 wounded - some in the parking lot for lack of beds.

- Associated Press