A second air strike targeted Libyan rebels just east of the strategic oil town Ras Lanuf today and was met with a barrage of machine-gun fire, an AFP reporter said.

The reporter on the eastern outskirts of Ras Lanuf heard a fighter jet screech low through the sky and saw a huge plume of smoke about 400 metres (yards) from the rebels' checkpoint and about 50 metres from the main desert road.

Rebels unleashed a volley of return fire as others piled into vans and cars, racing off to inspect whether there was any damage.

An earlier air strike took place further away from the checkpoint, about two kilometres (one mile) east of the town in the desert.

Libyan warplanes have carried out several air strikes on positions held by rebels, who last month rose up in the east against ruler Muammar Gaddafi, but have almost entirely missed their targets.

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