Hundreds of Libyans turned over their weapons at collection points in the capital and the eastern city of Benghazi on Saturday following rallies which called for disarmament and the disbanding of militias.

A steady trickle of men surrendered their weapons to national army troops stationed in Tripoli's Martyrs Square and in Benghazi's Freedom Square, Agence France Presse journalists reported.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati is scheduled to address on Thursday the 67th General Assembly meeting held at the United Nations headquarters in New York around midnight Beirut time.

The premier contacted President Michel Suleiman to brief him on the meetings that he held in New York with top officials, according to a statement issued by Miqati's press office.

The White House said Wednesday that President Barack Obama did see the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as terrorism, after Mitt Romney accused him of downplaying the incident.

The Republican presidential candidate, hoping to dent the president's favorable approval ratings on foreign policy, has attacked Obama for describing turmoil in the Middle East as "bumps in the road."

The U.S. State Department has accused CNN of "distasteful" reporting after it used the contents of a private diary kept by slain U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens without the consent of his family.

Senior State Department aide Philippe Reines told reporters in a statement over the weekend that the television network engaged in "atrocious behavior" in making use of the late envoy's diary as it reported on events leading up to his death at the hands of militants who stormed the U.S. consulate in Benghazi earlier this month.

A Libyan military official said on Monday that the commanders of the two largest militia brigades in the eastern city of Benghazi have now been replaced by army officers.

"Army chief Yussef al-Mangush issued an order appointing Colonel Amrajaa al-Msheiti as commander of the February 17 Brigade, replacing Fawzi Bukatef," said the senior army officer on condition of anonymity.

Libya's armed forces announced on Sunday that they had dislodged a militia from a military complex on the highway leading to Tripoli International Airport.

Commander in chief Yussef al-Mangush said on his Facebook page that members of the militia were arrested and that their weapons were confiscated.

Six members of Libya's security forces who were apparently "executed" were among 11 people killed in clashes in Benghazi between protesters and a militia linked to the defense ministry, a medical examiner told Agence France Presse on Saturday.

"From the nature of the wounds it is clear that the six were executed," the medical examiner said on condition of anonymity, adding that four of them were shot in the head while the others were shot in the chest as well as the head.

Libyans angry over the enduring power of paramilitary groups in Benghazi stormed the bases of an Islamist militia and an ex-rebel unit sparking clashes that left at least four people dead, according to early Saturday figures.

Overnight, hundreds of demonstrators including several armed men stormed the headquarters of the Raf Allah al-Sahati Brigade, located at a farm in the Hawari region 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the centre of Benghazi.

Last week's deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi was a "terrorist attack," the White House confirmed Thursday.

"It is self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One. "Our embassy was attacked violently and the result was four deaths of American officials. That's self-evident."

President Bashar Assad has hit out at Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, accusing them of arming Syrian rebels but insisting they will not win, according to excerpts from an interview to appear in an Egyptian newspaper on Friday.

"They suddenly saw money in their hands after a long period of poverty and think they can buy history and play a regional role," Assad told al-Ahram al-Arabi, which put excerpts from the interview on its website on Thursday.