At least 10 rebels were killed by a coalition air strike yesterday, fighters at the scene said today, in an increasingly chaotic battle with Col Muammar Gadafy's forces over the oil town of Brega.
The rebel leadership described the deaths as an unfortunate mistake and called for continued air strikes against Col Gadafy's forces, who have reversed a rebel advance along the coastal highway linking their eastern stronghold with western Libya.
Hundreds of mostly young, inexperienced volunteers could later be 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 pulled back into the desert.
A 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 Gadafy'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." Rebel fighters at the scene said as many as 14 people may have died in the bombing, which they said happened around 10pm local time (8pm Irish time) yesterday.
But at the rebel headquarters in the eastern city of Benghazi, spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said that the rebel 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 Gadafy and there will be casualties, although of course it does not make us happy". He could not confirm that rebels had died in the air strike.
In Brussels, a spokeswoman for Nato, which this week assumed command of the military operation launched on March 19th, said the alliance was looking into the reports.
Col Gadafy forces fired rockets on Brega overnight and fighting continued further west around the town's university early today, 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 Col Gadafy's forces.
The volunteers have frequently fled under fire, raising questions about whether the rebels will be able to make any headway against Col Gadafy's better-equipped and better-trained forces without great 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 units into a more disciplined force after their advance along about 200 km of coast west from Brega was repulsed and turned into a rapid retreat this week.
By mid-afternoon, dozens of volunteer fighters were waiting with their pick-ups at a checkpoint east of Brega close to the positions they held two days earlier.
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.
Fear that Col Gadafy was using spies to infiltrate and undermine the rebels added to the tension.
The stalled rebel campaign has left rebel-held areas in western Libya, notably the city of Misrata, stranded and facing fierce attack from Col Gadafy's forces.
"They are trying to starve and kill people inside the city by all means," said a British-based doctor who had spoken to his friends in Misrata today.
Reuters