20110311
reuters

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan rebels repelled a counter-offensive by leader Muammar Gaddafi's troop on Friday, but appealed to foreign powers to impose a no-fly zone to stop further attacks overrunning their three-week uprising.

Government forces, with air supremacy and a big advantage in tanks, still appear to have regained the momentum and their push could overtake sluggish international efforts to halt Gaddafi.

The sound of explosions and small arms fire came from Ras Lanuf on Friday as government troops landed from the sea backed by tanks and air power fought to recapture the oil port town.

After hours of fighting, insurgents withdrew east of the small town and a large column of black smoke billowed from storage tanks at ras Lanuf's oil installation. Rebels said the plant was hit by a series of government air strikes, but the Libyan government denied bombing the storage tanks.

The insurgents then regrouped outside the town and counter-attacked and seized it back, they said.

"There has been intense fighting with Gaddafi's forces. They have withdrawn from the residential area to the west. We are now combing the area," rebel fighter Mohammed Aboul Hassan told Reuters by telephone from Ras Lanuf.

"TIME FOR ACTION"

As a host of international bodies agonise over whether, or how to impose a no-fly zone, Gaddafi's warplanes are carrying out air strikes seemingly unhindered by insurgent anti-aircraft guns mounted on the back of pick-up trucks.