The violence in Libya has reached a grim milestone: more than a thousand people are thought to have died in the fighting between rebel and government forces. Libyan authorities insist that the uprising is orchestrated from abroad. Fighting has reportedly intensified in the country with conflicting reports of what territory is controlled by what forces. Gaddafi supporters claim that they have taken the city of Zawiyah, but protesters deny this information. Al Jazeera television reports of snipers randomly shooting from rooftops in the Libyan capital Tripoli. There is also fighting in the oil port of Ras Lanuf, and the towns of Misurata and Bin Jawad. The interim governing body created by the Libyan opposition, the National Libyan Council, based in Benghazi, has recently offered a deal to the country`s leader Muammar Gaddafi, Al Jazeera television reports. The channel has quoted the head of the council Mustafa Abdel Jalil as saying that if Gaddafi leaves within 72 hours, they will not prosecute him for the crimes he committed. Libyan authorities deny ever talking to the rebels, persisting that the events in Libya are carefully orchestrated from abroad. In an interview to Turkey`s state-run TRT Turk television, Muammar Gaddafi said that the Libyans will fight if a no-fly zone is introduced over Libya by Western states. He added that this would show their real intention to seize the country`s oil, AP news agency reports. The country`s foreign minister has a similar vision. "It is clear that it is a well-prepared plot," Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa told RT in an exclusive interview. "The proof is that this group has contacts with great powers and is supported by them, first of all by Britain, which is attracted by the oil reserves." "The UK has paid several visits, held negotiations and offered help," he added. "The same situation is with France and the US. Great powers compete for the right to own oil gold recourses. And this rivalry is going on."