The council, comprising officers who joined the protests against Kadhafi's rule, will liaise with similar groups in other freed cities in the east but it was not immediately clear if there were plans for a regional command.

Kadhafi remains defiant despite losing control of virtually all of eastern Libya and parts of the west.

"A military council was formed last night," said Salwa Bughaighi, a member of a coalition of organisers who set up a civilian council earlier this week to run Benghazi's municipal affairs.

The military council's membership has not yet been finalised but does not include General Abdel Fatah Yunis, the former interior minister who sided with protesters in Benghazi, Bughaighi said.

Yunis gained respect among many protesters after he defected to their side during the fighting in Benghazi, which officials say left at least 250 people dead.

Fathi Terbeel, a prominent lawyer and a member of the coalition, said there were still disputes over the membership of the council and that it was unclear when a regional command would be established.

"There are still reservations over the names. The people are favouring officers who joined the revolution from the start and did not hesitate," he said.

Kadhafi faces growing pressure both at home and from abroad following a show of defiance that the United States dubbed "delusional."

Overnight pro-Kadhafi militiamen with tanks attempted to retake Zawiyah, a middle-class dormitory town 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of Tripoli, but rebels fought them off, residents told AFP by telephone.

Over the past week, some officers have spoken of plans to organise military support against Tripoli, where Kadhafi is based and protected by relatively well-armed militias that do not come under the military's command.

But Brigadier General Ahmed Qatrani, who had been tasked with organising rebel forces in Benghazi, said there were no plans yet to march on the capital.

"Tripoli is being held hostage. We are in touch with them, but they asked us to hold back. They said they are capable" of freeing themselves, he told reporters.

Qatrani added that the military in Benghazi was offering advice to anti-government officers in the west.

Bughaighi said Qatrani has not yet been appointed to the new military council.

Officers say the army was considerably weakened under Kadhafi to stave off potential coups, while the Libyan leader strengthened his militias, whose barracks in Benghazi were taken by protesters on February 20.

Some soldiers and civilians volunteered to go to Tripoli by desert routes after receiving training around Benghazi.

"They are moving their experience to Tripoli," said Qatrani.

But organisers say communications with the volunteers, who also include medics and unarmed civilians, have been sporadic, and they have received conflicting reports about their whereabouts.

One of the organisers at a makeshift registration centre, near a courthouse turned into the revolt's civilian headquarters, said pro-Kadhafi gunmen killed 18 unarmed volunteers captured near Sirte, in the centre of the Mediterranean coast.

"They caught 40 near Sirte, and killed 18 of them," said Motaz Suleiman. There was no way to independently confirm his claims.

Others say volunteers have successfully made it to Tripoli, about 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) to the west.

"But some of the people there support Kadhafi. It is treacherous," said one of the organisers at the centre.

Meanwhile, large numbers of young people continue to volunteer. One source put the figure at 5,000 since Monday, but that figure could not be verified.

Some wear military gear and berets, but most are in jeans, T-shirts and sandles.

Hassan, aged 20, says "I want to go to Tripoli to free it. I am ready to fight."

Next to him, 25-year-old Ibrahim adds that he does not want "any foreign intervention, particularly from the United States."

"We ourselves are going to liberate Libya," he said, flashing a victory sign.

Mohammed is a 30-year-old doctor who looks out of place among all the younger men, and who speaks soberly.

"I am here because Kadhafi has killed thousands of people. We loved Kadhafi in the past, but now he is killing civilians. With my own eyes I saw a boy murdered."

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