AJDABIYAH, Libya (Reuters) – Rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi said five of their fighters were killed when NATO planes mistakenly bombed a rebel tank column near the contested port of Brega in eastern Libya.
In Washington, the head of US Africa command told a Senate hearing the United States should not provide arms to the rebels without a better idea of who they were.
Asked if there was an emerging stalemate in the seven-week-old conflict, General Carter Ham replied: “I would agree with that at present, on the ground.”
In rebel-held eastern Libya, wounded rebels being brought to a hospital Ajdabiyah said their trucks and tanks were hit on Thursday by a NATO air strike outside Brega.
NATO said it was investigating an attack by its aircraft on a tank column in the area along the Mediterranean coast yesterday, saying the situation was “unclear and fluid”.
The fighting for Brega, the only active front, has dragged on for a week and has entered a daily pattern of advances back and forth with neither side making major gains.
Medical workers carried blood-soaked uniforms from hospital rooms in Ajdabiyah, gateway to the insurgent stronghold of Benghazi in the east, after wounded fighters were ferried back from Brega. “It was a NATO air strike on us. We were near our vehicles near Brega,” wounded fighter Younes Jumaa said from a stretcher at the hospital.
Nurse Mohamed Ali said at least five rebels were dead.
“NATO are liars. They are siding with Gaddafi,” Salem Mislat, one of the rebels, said.
