In the capital Tripoli three loud explosions were heard early Wednesday as jets flew overhead, days after the regime said Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi narrowly escaped a NATO air strike that killed one of his sons.

The explosion in Benghazi took place about 200 metres (yards) from a seafront headquarters of insurgents fighting to overthrow Gaddafi.

"It was a car bomb," rebel military spokesman Omar Ahmed Bani told AFP, while Libyan journalist Nasser Warfuli said at the scene that the vehicle was a white Chevrolet that blew up just before evening prayers.

The blast sparked scenes of chaos as hundreds of men, many toting pistols or Kalashnikovs, milled around and climbed on top of the twisted metal of the car wreck to chant slogans against Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

AFP