Rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi battled yesterday over control of a key border post, fighting on both sides of the Libya-Tunisia frontier, sources said.

Rebels recaptured the Dehiba border post after heavy fighting killed eight soldiers of forces loyal to Col Gaddafi, just hours after the strongman’s troops took control of the crossing.

On the Libyan side of the border, the rival camps exchanged artillery fire in the early evening, causing panic among civilians, a witness said.

Several ambulances came from Tunisia into Libya to evacuate the wounded.

According to a security source, five pro-Gaddafi fighters were wounded in the clashes and taken to a hospital in Tataouine in Tunisia.

A senior Tunisian military officer described the situation as “extremely tense”.

Earlier in the day, Col Gaddafi’s fighters had for a few hours taken control of Dehiba which rebels seized a week ago, causing the insurgents to flee into Tunisia pursued by their enemies for about one kilometre.

Some of them managed to return to Libya while others, as well as Libyan soldiers, were arrested by Tunisian forces, said a witness on the border who asked not to be named. “The situation is very confused, and there is fighting on both sides of the border” at Dehiba, a military official said.

A witness said Tunisian troops had arrested fighters on both sides of the conflict, but this could not be confirmed independently or by Tunisian officials.

The insurgents’ success in capturing Dehiba April 21 resulted in thousands of Libyans crossing the border into Tunisia in anticipation of a counter attack as forces loyal to Col Gaddafi started amassing in the area.

Fighting between rebels and Gaddafi loyalists intensified in the west of the country in the last week.

Sources said the rebels also managed to retake Wezen, the first Libyan village after crossing the border at Dehiba from Tunisia, with about 5,000 inhabitants.

The rebels also control Nalut, the last big town before the Dehiba crossing as well as the highway leading to the town of Zintan, nearly 200 kilometres east.

Gaddafi troops fired rockets on Zintan on Sunday evening, killing four and wounding nine, according to residents.

On Wednesday, thousands of insurgents defending the city managed to drive Col Gaddafi’s forces back several kilometres after a day of fighting and bombardments.

Massive protests in February – inspired by the revolts that toppled long-time autocrats in Egypt and Tunisia – escalated into war when Col Gaddafi’s troops fired on demonstrators and protesters seized several eastern towns.

The mountainous area of Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, was one of the first to rise up against Gaddafi’s regime.

Rebel reinforcements were on Thursday reported to be moving towards Kabao and Nalut in anticipation of new attacks.

Foreign military officials, meanwhile, said the Tunisian army was sending reinforcements to Dehiba, with members of the national guard and armoured vehicles converging in the area yesterday.

Meanwhile two Italian fighter pilots took part in air raids over Libya for the first time yesterday, triggering an uproar within Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition partner, the Northern League.

The pair of Tornado pilots took off from the Italian island of Sicily equipped with precision-guided ammunition to strike “selected targets”, a defence ministry official said without revealing details over their mission.

In an about-face on Monday, Rome said it would participate in air strikes with a Nato-led coalition against Col Gaddafi’s regime.