Libyan rebels came under heavy artillery fire from Muammar Gaddafi's forces as they pushed towards the key oil town of Brega after having beaten a scattered retreat the previous day.
A column of fighters moved to within a kilometre of Brega university, where they set up a checkpoint, before Gaddafi forces began shelling them, an AFP correspondent reported.
Black smoke billowed across the hills on the edge of the town but it was unclear if the rebels were firing back with anything more than small arms.
Explosions rock desert
Intermittent explosions had rumbled across the desert landscape on Sunday as the rebel vanguard traded rocket and artillery fire with Gaddafi forces inside the town.
Brega, 800 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli, has been the scene of intense exchanges for several days, with both sides advancing only to withdraw again later under fire.
Early on Sunday, the rebels had pushed forward to seize the vast university campus on the outskirts of Brega before being ambushed by Gaddafi's forces.
When they on Monday reached the site of the ambush, the rebels found the foxholes used by their opponents empty and they jubilantly set fire to discarded grey camouflage jackets left by the loyalist troops.
No military training
Most of the rebel volunteers acknowledged that they had neither the military training and discipline, nor the knowledge of the terrain to mount a frontal assault on Brega. They said they were dependent on the rebels' few trained fighters, most of them defectors from the regular army.
Rebels said they had snuck into Brega overnight and stolen a four-wheel drive vehicle from Gaddafi's forces.
They said many satellite photos of the area were found in the vehicle, while the back seats had been removed and the space filled with five spare tyres -- necessary in a war zone where shrapnel litters the roads.
Britain 'in for six months'
The head of the British Royal Air Force has said warplanes are likely to play a role in the campaign to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya for at least six months.
"In general terms [we] are now planning on the basis of at least six months, and we'll see where we go from there," Air Chief Marshal Stephen Dalton told The Guardian newspaper.
He added that the RAF's immediate priority was Libya and he believed the operation was "sustainable, at the moment, without jeopardising British efforts elsewhere".
Britain joined the United States and France in bombing Libya on March 19 to enforce a UN resolution aimed at protecting the civilian population from Gaddafi's forces.
The US military had planned to begin withdrawing its combat jets and Tomahawk missiles from the air campaign at the weekend as NATO allies were to take the lead in bombing Gaddafi's forces.
NATO requests US extension
But the Pentagon announced on Sunday that the US involvement would continue through Monday at NATO's request.
Britain's involvement in Libya comes at a time when the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition is making cuts to the country's armed forces as it seeks to to slash a record deficit.
"On current planning, we can continue in Afghanistan, the Falklands and Libya with what we have got," said Dalton, 57.
"But that does bring you nearer the point that you have just about exhausted the bag. It's a heck of a lot to be doing at one time."
Britain contributes about 9,500 servicemen to the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan.
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