TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- Libyan rebels say they've launched an attack on Tripoli in coordination with NATO.

If confirmed, it would be the first time in the 6-month-old uprising that the Libyan capital has come under assault.

Gun battles and mortar rounds have been heard clearly at the hotel where foreign correspondents stay in Tripoli.

The fighting erupted just hours after opposition fighters captured the key city of Zawiya nearby.

A couple of hours after the rebels said they had attacked Tripoli, state television ran what appeared to be a live audio message by Moammar Gadhafi.

He did not appear but sounded like he was calling the message in on a poor phone line which crackled at times.

He announced the time and date twice to prove that he was speaking live.

Gadhafi condemned the rebels as traitors and "vermin" who are
tearing Libya apart

A government spokesman appeared on Libyan television to deny
there was an uprising in Tripoli.

But he acknowledged that there was some kind of unusual activity.