Libyan rebels repulse deadly Gaddafi offensive

Libyan rebels fought intense battles to repel Moamer Gaddafi's forces from the key eastern oil port of Brega on Thursday as the regime's biggest counter-offensive yet left at least 10 people dead.

Libyan rebels fought intense battles to repel Moamer Gaddafi's forces from the key eastern oil port of Brega on Thursday as the regime's biggest counter-offensive yet left at least 10 people dead.

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Opposition fighters said they had finally pushed Gaddafi's men out of the town on the Mediterranean coast after a day of chaotic clashes, even as a government fighter jet fired two missiles near their victory celebrations.

"Brega is liberated. We have forced them to 30 kilometres (22 miles) west," rebel fighter Khalid al-Aqoly said.

Gaddafi's forces, backed by tanks and heavy weaponry, had attacked at dawn and quickly seized the airport, an oil terminal and a university in Brega, the westernmost town held by the poorly armed Libyan opposition.