Details were added (first version was posted at 20:09)
Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi on Tuesday refused to step down, instead warning demonstrators they faced death sentences if they resorted to violence.
"Gaddafi does not have a post to resign from, Gaddafi is the leader of the revolution forever," he said in his first major address since the unrest erupted a week back.
"I haven't even started giving the orders to use bullets - any use of force against authority of (the) state will be sentenced to death," he said on state television.
"This is my country, I will not leave the land of Libya," Gaddafi said as he pounded his fist on a podium. He said that he would stay on in power "until the last drop of my blood."
The man who has ruled Libya with an iron fist for more than four decades described the protesters as a "few drugged people" who attacked police stations and the army, and blamed the Arab and foreign media for damaging the image of Libya.
With more and more bodies found in the capital Tripoli, opposition groups and the Arab media spoke of more than 560 dead and 1,400 people still missing since the unrest began in the North African country.
A Rome-based group representing Arab expatriates said some 1,000 people had been killed by Libyan security forces in bombing raids.
"We have not used force yet," he said, with a statue of a massive fist crushing a US plane behind him.
"Libya is the role model for countries in Asia and Latin America," he said from Green Square, in the capital Tripoli. Libya will "lead Africa, Asia and Latin America, it will lead the world," he said.
As his forces believed to be losing control of several cities and a number of once-loyal officials stepping down in protest at the crackdown, Gaddafi talked about new municipalities that will be set up to serve Libyan people.
Meanwhile, the streets of Tripoli were largely empty and shops closed, including along the main Omar Mukhtar road, witnesses told the German Press Agency dpa.
Gaddafi supporters were seen driving around the capital, honking car horns and carrying posters of the Libyan leader.
Abdulmoneim al-Honi, the representative of Libya in the Arab League, said Gaddafi had barricaded himself in a compound in Tripoli.