Gaddafi forces bomb Libya rebels

The oil town of Brega has changed hands several times in the past few days

Rebel forces in Libya say they have re-taken the eastern oil town of Brega, capturing a number of elite government troops and killing others.

The statement has not been independently confirmed.

It came hours after the rebels had themselves been driven from the town by air and ground attacks by forces loyal to Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Elsewhere, the rebel-held town of Ajdabiya is reported to have come under heavy aerial bombardment.

On the diplomatic front, France is stepping up its efforts to persuade the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya.

The rebel statement admitted that they have no answer to Col Gaddafi’s air power, and backed demands for a no-fly zone, says the BBC’s Jon Leyne in the opposition stronghold of Benghazi.

Those demands can only get louder if and when Col Gaddafi’s forces come closer to the major population centre of Benghazi, our correspondent says.

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