A beleaguered Muammar Gaddafi vowed on Wednesday to fight on to death or victory after rebels forced him to abandon his Tripoli stronghold.

Ten Libyan rebels were reported killed and 172 wounded in an attack on the eastern oil port of Brega on Saturday.

The Bir Ayad field hospital is in a single room with no electricity in a former roadside café near the front line in Libya’s Western mountains.

Rebel fighters in western Libya faced sustained artillery and rocket bombardment by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi for the fifth day on Saturday.

Nato warplanes pummelled a town west of Libya’s capital, state media said soon after Western and Arab powers promised more than $1-billion to rebels.

Loud explosions rocked Tripoli early on Wednesday as Nato kept up its heaviest bombing of the the Libyan capital since air strikes began in March.

British and French attack helicopters struck inside Libya for the first time overnight on Saturday, hitting targets in the oil port of Brega.

China made its first confirmed contact with Libyan rebels in the latest setback for Gaddafi, while France has been trying to persuade him to leave.

Ireland is poised to become the second eurozone country after Greece to seal a bail out but few expect the rescue to end a deep crisis.