Rebels Control Libyan Oil Town of Ras Lanuf

Rebels on Sunday routed forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi out of the key eastern oil town of Ras Lanuf and were pursuing them further west, Agence France Presse correspondents reported.

"The town is entirely in rebel hands. They are manning checkpoints in and out of the city and are pursuing Gadhafi forces west," one of the correspondents said.

Ras Lanuf is 370 kilometers (230 miles) west of the rebel stronghold city of Benghazi and 210 kilometers from Ajdabiya, the first town to fall back into rebel hands on Saturday a week into allied air strikes.

AFP reporters confirmed earlier on Sunday that insurgents had also retaken Brega, another strategic oil town west along the coastal road from Benghazi to the capital Tripoli.

There were no signs of any major damage at oil installations of Ras Lanuf, which had fallen to Gadhafi's forces on March 12.

Weapons could be seen abandoned on the road and buildings were partly destroyed, indicating Gadhafi forces had retreated further west towards the Libyan leader's hometown of Sirte.

AFP correspondents said the rebels appeared to be in control of the entire east of Libya, with Gadhafi forces hastily retreating from Ras Lanuf.

Trucks and cars carrying rebel fighters flooded the road to the oil town, some of them stopping in Ras Lanuf as others moved west towards Bin Jawad, a hamlet 50 kilometers further west.

But correspondents said the flat, desert terrain would be hard to defend without tanks and other heavy military equipment.

Rebels marked the takeover of Ras Lanuf with celebratory gunfire and also fired a rocket propelled-grenade in sign of victory, correspondents said.

Meanwhile Sirte on the Mediterranean coast was pounded overnight intensively by allied warplanes, a resident told AFP by telephone, adding the inhabitants were terrified and fleeing into the desert.

"The city has become a ball of fire," the resident said. "The doors in our house were flung open from the force of the blasts"

"Most of the residents have fled into the desert terrified by the air strikes."