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in the first sign of a counter-offensive by Libya’s leader in the rebel-controlled east, but the assault was beaten back after initial successes, according to rebels and towns people.
Later in the day, a fighter jet fired two missiles just metres from a square in Brega town where rebels had been celebrating an apparent victory over pro-regime fighters, an AFP reporter said.
The attack caused no casualties but gouged out two craters in a street about 15 to 20 metres from the square outside the town’s university.
Just moments earlier, dozens of men had gathered in the square, flashing victory signs and firing into the air, saying they had evicted pro-regime fighters from the town, west of the rebels’ headquarters in Benghazi.
Rebels ducked for cover and then started firing machine guns at the jet – which streaked low in the sky – chanting “Allahu Akhbar” (God is greatest).
Sanousi Jadran, a rebel volunteer fighter, said Gaddafi’s forces had hit the town early in the morning.
A former Libyan justice minister, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, will be chairman of the National Libyan Council which will have 30 members and be based in Benghazi for now but would later move to Tripoli, said Ghoga.
Arab television and rebel officers said earlier the Libyan military operation was successful but a spokesman for the opposition coalition in Benghazi said Gaddafi forces had fled.
Anti-Gaddafi forces have been firmly in charge of eastern Libya up to Brega and some areas beyond, since shortly after anti-government protests erupted in mid-February.
“They tried to take Brega this morning, but they failed. It is back in the hands of the revolutionaries. He (Gaddafi) is trying to create all kinds of psychological warfare to keep these cities on edge,” Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the rebel February 17th Coalition, told Reuters.
On reports of violence in nearby Ajdabiyah, he said the town was “basically stable and our people are grouping to deal with any major assault. For now, it is still just hit and run.”
Libyan state television said Gaddafi forces still controlled the airport and seaport at Brega, contradicting rebel accounts.
Coinciding with the offensive, state television broadcast images that it said showed security officers killed in the east. It showed about 10 corpses with their hands tied behind their backs and with pools of blood around their heads.
Brega residents also said the offensive had been repulsed.
“Gaddafi forces attacked the Brega oil terminal and the airport and they held them for a couple of hours. The youth of Brega heard about it on al Jazeera, organised themselves and started attacking them back,” Fatma told Reuters by phone.
“They took back the oil facilities and the airport and managed to shoot down a helicopter. Gaddafi forces were pushed out 6km down the coast road west of Brega where they are still fighting them,” she said, declining to give her full name.
Her account was confirmed by resident Idriss Ben Hmeid, an oil engineer.
Early reports said 14 were dead in Marsa El Brega, that random bombardment of the town was taking place and more than 500 army vehicles were involved in the operation.
At the courthouse on Benghazi’s seafront, used to administer the city, a rebel official addressed a crowd, saying: “Brega city was attacked by Gaddafi forces, and our revolutionary forces from Ajdabiyah repulsed them and freed Brega.”
Hundreds of armed volunteers amassed at the main road into Benghazi, some planned on staying to defend while others planned to go to Brega.
In a speech to loyalists shown live on State television Muammar Gaddafi, orchestrating a populist response to rebels threatening his rule, blamed al Qaeda yesterday for creating turmoil and told applauding supporters there was a conspiracy to control Libya and its oil.
Gaddafi, who said no more than 150 people were killed in the unrest caused by “terrorists” said if Washington or other foreign powers entered Libya they would face a bloody war.
Apparently confident and relaxed, but in denial about the occupation of swathes of Libya by rebels seeking an end to his long rule, Gaddafi said he was willing to discuss constitutional change without arms or chaos and would even talk with al Qaeda.
“There is a conspiracy to control the Libyan oil and to control the Libyan land, to colonise Libya once again.”
Speaking to supporters who punctuated the address with cheers of support and declarations of loyalty, he said Libyans would fight to the “last man and last woman” against foreigners.
“We will enter a bloody war and thousands and thousands of Libyans will die if the United States enters or NATO enters,” Gaddafi said, laughing at points during his long address.
“Do they want us to become slaves once again like we were slaves to the Italians . . . We will never accept it,” he said.
On the sequence of events that started the unrest, Gaddafi, who in a previous speech said protesters against his rule were brain-washed by Osama bin Laden and had their milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs, said: “How did that all begin? Small, sleeper al Qaeda cells.” – Reuters-AFP.