Muammar Gaddafi's government was mulling extending yesterday a deadline for rebels in Libya's third city Misrata to lay down their arms after the deputy foreign minister said scores had surrendered.
A rebel spokesman said at least five people were killed the same day as pro-Gaddafi forces shelled Misrata port, where a ship docked to evacuate 1,000 migrants and casualties, the International Organisation for Migration said.
As military heads of Nato's 28 member states gathered for a two-day meeting in Brussels, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the aim of the Western alliance's air campaign was to weaken but not to kill Gaddafi.
The Italian parliament yesterday adopted a statement calling for a deadline on Italy's participation in Nato-led air strikes in Libya amid misgivings within the government over military action.
Yesterday's statement also called for "a decisive and strong political initiative on the international stage to find a diplomatic solution" and said the Italian government must exclude any use of ground troops in the future.
The motion was passed by 309 votes in the 630-seat lower house.
Deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim told reporters in THpoli that around 400 fighters had turned in their arms in Misrata, the rebel's last major bastion in western Libya, which has been under loyalist siege for almost two months.
His comments could not be verified.
He said the deadline to surrender in exchange for an amnesty expired at midnight (2200 GMT) Tuesday, but it had already been rejected by the rebels fighting to oust Gaddafi after more than 40 years in power in the oil-rich north African nation.
AFP correspondents heard no fighting during the night but medics said that at least one person was killed and some 30 wounded in clashes around Misrata on Tuesday. The death toll was sharply down on Monday when 14 people died.
The fighting centred on the city's western and southwestern suburbs, close to the loyalist forces' base at the airport on Tuesday, as rebel commanders reported several Nato air strikes on Gaddafi's armour.