US officials have held face-to-face talks with representatives of Col Muammar Gaddafi's government, the US state department has confirmed.

美国国务院证实，美国官员已经与卡扎菲政府的代表举行了面对面的会谈。

The US said the meeting reiterated¹（重申） its demand that Col Gaddafi step down, and involved no negotiations².

A spokesman said the Libyan government supported dialogue with the US but only if it was free from preconditions.

On Monday, rebels said they had pushed government troops westwards after seizing back most of the town of Brega.

The Libyan government denied the claim, insisting that the key oil refinery³（炼油厂） town was still firmly under its control.

'Delivered a message'

In a statement, the US state department said officials had given representatives of Col Gaddafi a "clear and firm" message that the Libyan leader had to go.

"The message was simple and unambiguous（清楚的，明白的） - Gaddafi must leave power so that a new political process can begin that reflects the will and aspirations⁴ of the Libyan people," it said.

The US did not give the location of the talks, but Libya said they had taken place on Saturday in neighbouring Tunisia.

Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim hailed the talks as an important step in "repairing relations" with the US.

"We support any dialogue, any peace initiative as long as they don't decide Libya's future from without," he told journalist in Tripoli.

"We will discuss everything but do not condition your peace talks. Let the Libyans decide their future," he added.

Washington said that Jeffrey Feltman, the US assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, and the US ambassador to Libya Gene⁵ Cretz, had been involved in the talks, but would not say who represented the Libyan side.

American officials said no further talks were planned "because the message has been delivered".

US forces have been involved in military action in Libya since the UN in March passed resolution 1973, which permitted intervention⁶ to protect Libyan civilians⁷ against Col Gaddafi.

Following the resolution, the US took the lead in the air strikes against Col Gaddafi's forces.

Nato later took over - although the US continues to play a support role.