In Tripoli, meanwhile, Gaddafi's finance minister angrily denounced proposals by rebel leaders that they be given some of the regime's assets that were frozen as part of international sanctions.
"That is financial piracy," Finance Minister Abdulhafid Zlitni said of the idea. In all, about $US120 billion in Libyan assets were frozen as part of international sanctions, Zlitni told a news conference.
Concerning the bombings, a Nato official confirmed a strike on at least one ammunition bunker outside the Libyan capital, Tripoli. He asked that his name not be used because the military alliance was not yet releasing the information publicly.
Libya's official JANA news agency reported airstrikes on Wednesday in three other places: Misrata, Libya's third-largest city; Sirte, a Gadhafi stronghold and home to the Libyan leader's tribe; and Aziziyah, about 35km south of Tripoli. Jana said the strike in Misrata was in an area "populated with residents."
But Mohammed Abdullah, a Misrata activist and a professor, said residents had mostly evacuated that part of Misrata several weeks ago after Gaddafi troops stormed it.
"Gaddafi troops are misleading the Nato," he said. "The Gaddafi forces turn the shops into weapon caches and then claim that the areas are residential."
Libyan rebels have been pleading for more Nato airstrikes as top Western and Arab envoys gather in Qatar's capital to discuss ways to end the Libyan crisis.
Mohamed Ismail Tajouri, a 54-year-old businessman who joined the rebels in their stronghold of Benghazi, said having a rebel delegation attend the Qatar meeting amounts to key international recognition.
"We are proud of this," he told The Associated Press. "This political development is really good for the rebels but the Gadhafi regime is not normal. He is a bloody creature, he won't leave until he spills some blood."
At Wednesday's meeting, a spokesman for Libyan rebels urged the US military to reassert a stronger role in the Nato-led air campaign or risk more civilian casualties in the fighting between Gaddafi and forces seeking to end his four-decade rule.
The appeal by the spokesman, Mahmoud Shammam, appeared to set the urgent tone for the rebels' meetings with the UN's secretary-general and other top envoys.
While peace efforts remain the top objective, there also appears to be a shift toward trying to boost the rebels' firepower to protect their territory from government offensives. One proposal noted by Italy - Libya's former colonial ruler - calls for allies providing defensive weapons.
The meeting comes as fighting on the eastern side of the country has been restricted to the occasional barrage of rockets, in contrast to the rapid advances and retreats that characterized much of the combat there in past weeks.
Gaddafi's forces, however, continued to shell the besieged city of Misrata in recent days. International groups are warning of a dire humanitarian crisis in Misrata, the only city in western Libya still partially in the hands of rebels.
In the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, rebel spokesman Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga said representatives are in negotiations over arms deals with the countries that have recognised the movement's National Transitional Council - France, Italy and Qatar - as well as with other countries.
"I think there will be no problem receiving weapons," Ghoga said.
He added: "We believe that the solution with Colonle Gaddafi's regime will only come through force. There will not be a political solution unless it is imposed on this regime by the international community."
At the Doha meeting, delegates also vowed to work toward setting up a financial mechanism to help the rebels' transitional government pay salaries and cover other day-to-day needs. Envoys said the system could draw on oil revenues from rebel-held areas and frozen Libyan assets previously under Gaddafi's control.
In Tripoli, the Libyan finance minister, Zlitni, warned that the government would go to court to block any possible transfer of frozen assets to the rebels. Those holding the assets have no right to transfer them, "unless they have a clear mandate from the UN Security Council," Zlitni said. "This is theft."
The minister said the country will be able to manage econonomically despite the sanctions.
He said while about $US120 billion in Libyan assets have been frozen, the country has billions of dollars in contingency funds at its disposal. He did not specify the size of Libya's reserves, but added that "those contingency reserves are going to last for quite some time."
Still, Zlitni acknowledged that the sanctions "hurt the financial and economic situation of the majority of Libyans, which the UN did not intend."
Zlitni said he has lowered the price of fuel by 25 percent and increased salaries by 50 percent to ease the economic pressure on ordinary Libyans.
He said Libya currently produces only about 65 percent of its daily fuel requirements because of the sanctions. As a result of the shortage, long lines of dozens of cars are seen waiting at gas stations across the Gaddafi-controlled areas.
