AJDABIYAH, Libya – Government forces in trucks disguised with rebel flags shelled opposition positions Tuesday near the strategic eastern oil town of Brega, killing eight rebel fighters and wounding dozens more, officials said.
Rebel forces have been pushing to seize the front-line town on Libya's coast for nearly a week, but they say fields of land mines planted by Muammar Qadhafi's forces have slowed the advance.
The rebels are fighting in a residential area on the town's eastern side and control about one-third of the town, spokesman Mohammed al-Rajali said.
Field commander Ahmed Maysawi said rebel forces were working to clear the mines so they can move forward while government troops are occasionally approaching in trucks disguised with rebel flags to shell rebel positions with mounted rocket launchers.
A NATO spokesman said he could not confirm rebel claims about Brega, saying only that the situation there remained "very fluid."
"It would be premature for us to come with a verdict with respect to the situation there, so this will be something we need to monitor closely in coming days," said Col. Roland Lavoie, spokesman for the alliance's operational headquarters in Naples, Italy.
Mohammed Idris, a doctor at the hospital in the nearby city of Ajdabiyah, said eight rebels were killed and dozens wounded Tuesday. That raised to at least 34 rebels killed in five days of fighting, according to Idris.
He said the rebels had taken four prisoners, and one dead government soldier had been taken to the rebel hospital. It is unclear how many other government soldier have been killed. The Libyan government rarely provides information on its casualties.
Rebels struggling to oust Qadhafi since the uprising against his rule broke out in February control much of Libya's east, but Brega, 750km southeast of Tripoli, has been under government control since early April.
The two sides have been locked in a stalemate with the rebels unable to advance beyond pockets in the west despite a NATO air campaign against Qadhafi's troops.
Last week, more than 30 nations including the United States gave the rebels a boost by recognizing their National Transitional Council as the country's legitimate government, potentially freeing up billions of dollars in urgently needed cash.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said Tuesday that medical services in Libya's western mountains are struggling with a flood of casualties from fighting.
Tuesday's statement said facilities lack medicine to treat patients and vaccines to deal with outbreaks of disease.
An ICRC delegation visited the region and provided bandages and other medical materials.
Arab and Berber rebels wrested control of much of the Nafusa mountains from the government weeks ago. The range stretches from the Tunisian border to within 100km of Tripoli.
But rebels have been unable to capture the strategic mountain town of Gharyan, which controls the approach to the capital.
