Reuters/East of Brega, Libya


Rebels push cars burnt in what they say was a coalition air strike that killed 13 of their fighters on the road between Ajdabiyah and Brega in Libya yesterday
A Nato-led air strike killed 13 Libyan rebels in a “regrettable incident”, a rebel spokesman said yesterday, in an increasingly chaotic battle with Muammar Gaddafi’s forces over the oil town of Brega.
Despite the deaths on Friday night, the rebel leadership called for continued air strikes against Gaddafi’s forces, who have reversed a rebel advance on the coastal road linking their eastern stronghold with western Libya.
Hundreds of mostly young, inexperienced volunteers were later seen fleeing east from Brega towards the town of Ajdabiyah after coming under heavy mortar and machinegun fire.
A contingent of more experienced and better organised rebel units initially held their ground in Brega, but with most journalists forced east, it was unclear whether they had remained inside the town or had pulled back into the desert.
A Reuters correspondent visiting the scene of the air strike saw at least four burnt-out vehicles including an ambulance by the side of the road near the eastern entrance to the town.
Men prayed at freshly dug graves covered by the rebel red, black and green flag nearby.
“Some of Gaddafi’s forces sneaked in among the rebels and fired anti-aircraft guns in the air,” said rebel fighter Mustafa Ali Omar. “After that the Nato forces came and bombed them.”
The strike killed 13 rebels and wounded seven, rebel leadership spokesman Hafiz Ghoga said, calling it a “regrettable incident”.
“The military leadership is working on ways to prevent a recurrence,” Ghoga told reporters at the rebel headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi. Rebels at the scene said the bombing happened around 10pm local time (2000 GMT) on Friday.
Another rebel spokesman, Mustafa Gheriani, said the leadership still wanted and needed allied air strikes.
“You have to look at the big picture. Mistakes will happen. We are trying to get rid of Gaddafi and there will be casualties, although of course it does not make us happy.”
In Brussels, a spokeswoman for Nato, which this week assumed command of the military operation launched on March 19, said the alliance was looking into the reports.
Gaddafi forces fired rockets on Brega overnight and fighting continued further west around the town’s university early yesterday, rebels said.
But at the eastern gate of the town, dust rose from the road as volunteers known as the “shebab”, or youth, streamed away in cars after coming under heavy fire from Gaddafi’s forces.
The volunteers have frequently fled under fire, raising questions about whether the rebels can make any headway against Gaddafi’s better-equipped and better-trained forces without greater Western military involvement.
Brega is one of a string of oil towns along the coast that have been taken and retaken by each side after the UN-mandated intervention which was intended to protect civilians in Libya.
Rebels have been trying to marshal their rag-tag units into a more disciplined force after a rebel advance along about 200km of coast west from Brega was repulsed and turned into a rapid retreat this week.
By mid-afternoon yesterday, dozens of volunteer fighters were waiting with their pick-ups at a checkpoint east of Brega.
Volunteer fighter Khalid Salah said the rebels were waiting for the arrival of heavy weapons to begin another counter-attack. Aircraft could be heard occasionally overhead.
The stalled rebel campaign has left rebel-held areas in western Libya, notably the city of Misrata, stranded and facing intense attacks from Gaddafi’s forces.
One Benghazi-based rebel said food supplies were acutely low in Misrata due to the siege. The rebel, called Sami, said he was in regular contact with a Misrata resident who had told him one person died and six were injured in clashes yesterday.
“There are severe food shortages and we call on humanitarian organisations to help,” said Sami. “The city has been under siege for a month and a half. The main shortages are fruit and vegetables because those come from the south and the southern entrance to the city is controlled by Gaddafi’s men.”
Sami reported sporadic clashes yesterday after heavy fighting on Friday, when fire from a tank belonging to pro-Gaddafi forces hit a dairy factory.