China acknowledged Friday for the first time contact with Libya's rebels, as US lawmakers passed a resolution forcing President Barack Obama to explain his decision to intervene in Libya.

The United States and the United Nations, meanwhile, slammed Qatar's deportation of a Libyan woman who alleged she had been raped by soldiers loyal to Libyan strongman Moamer Kadhafi.

Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement that a Chinese diplomat has met with the leader of Libya's opposition to discuss the conflict in the oil-rich nation.

China's ambassador to Qatar, Zhang Zhiliang, held talks with Mustapha Abdul-Jalil of Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) in recent days. "The two sides exchanged views on the Libyan situation," Hong said.

"China's position on the Libyan issue is clear -- we hope that the Libyan crisis can be resolved through political means and that the future of Libya is decided by the Libyan people."

The statement did not say when or where the meeting took place.

The announcement of talks between China, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, and the rebel leadership comes as explosions rattled Tripoli overnight and Russia prepared to send an envoy to mediate the conflict.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow would send an envoy to Tripoli and the rebels' capital of Benghazi to mediate, the Italian news agency ANSA reported, quoting diplomats.

"We would like as much as possible for the problem to be resolved through negotiations and not by military means," Medvedev told reporters in Rome.

Kadhafi's forces are embroiled in a battle with rebels looking to put an end to his more than four decades in power.

The US House of Representatives, meanwhile, voted Friday to reprimand Obama for keeping a US role in NATO's Libya operations, but stopped short of calling for an end to the mission.

The lawmakers voted 268-145 for a resolution offered by Republican House Speaker John Boehner calling for a detailed report from the White House within 14 days explaining why Obama failed to seek permission from Congress before committing the US military to Libya.

It also seeks information about US "political and military objectives regarding Libya."

Boehner offered his resolution amid growing support, even among Republicans, for a separate measures that sought a withdrawal of US forces involved in the NATO mission within 15 days of passage.

That resolution, proposed by antiwar Democrat Dennis Kucinich, failed 265-148, with 87 Republicans voting in favor.

The White House called the resolutions "unhelpful and unnecessary."

Washington meanwhile accused Qatar Friday of violating humanitarian norms by deporting to Benghazi Libyan woman Iman al-Obeidi, who charged she had been raped by Kadhafi's soldiers.

US officials had repeatedly asked the Qatari government to allow to "travel with UNHCR (High Commissioner for Refugees) officials to a safe third country," State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said.

"So we were disappointed at her forced return (to Libya), and we believe it's a breach of humanitarian norms," Toner said.

In Geneva, the UNHCR too slammed Qatar's decision to send Obeidi back to Libya, saying it "violates international law."

UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said Obeidi is a recognised refugee and that UNHCR officials were at the hotel where she was staying, ready to accompany her to get on to a flight for Romania.

"She was prevented from leaving for this flight in the early hours of Thursday morning, said the spokesman.

Obeidi attracted international media attention when she stormed into Tripoli's Rixos hotel on March 26, threw open her coat to reveal scars and bruises on her body to expose her ordeal.

But as she screamed: "Film me, film me, show the whole world all they did to me," she was dragged off by security guards amid scenes of mayhem as journalists were shoved aside while trying to intervene.

A Libyan rebel official told AFP last month that Obeidi had escaped from Libya to Qatar with the help of rebels.

Off the Tunisian coast, up to 270 migrants were missing after a ship packed with refugees fleeing Libya and headed for Italy capsized, Tunisian authorities said.

Army and coastguard teams lifted 570 people off the overcrowded vessel after it ran aground and capsized near Tunisia's Kerkennah islands on Wednesday.

But between 200 and 270 were still missing after they tried to scramble aboard a flotilla of rescue boats, Tunisia's official TAP news agency said.

The Tunisian coastguard said Friday it had recovered two bodies, dismisssing claims by the Red Crescent that 123 bodies had been fished from the sea.

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