BREGA - At least 21 rebels and government soldiers were killed in fighting for the Libyan oil terminal of Brega over the past two days, hospital workers said on Saturday. A volunteer worker at the hospital in nearby Ajdabiyah, where fighters wounded in Brega are taken, said 15 rebel fighters had been killed and about 50 wounded. He said the bodies of six government soldiers were brought in on Friday. In fighting around a second eastern front in Misrata, much closer to Tripoli, at least six rebels were killed in the past 24 hours, rebel sources said. A rebel spokesman from the Brega battle said forces opposed to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were fighting their way south from the residential town of New Brega towards the terminal, 15 km (10 miles) away and had knocked out two government tanks. Rebels took New Brega on Thursday but Gaddafi's forces still control the port, oil terminal and refinery of Brega, which has changed hands several times over months of fighting in eastern Libya. “We are advancing from the residential area,” rebel commander Fawzi Bukatif told Reuters by telephone. “There are a few Gaddafi tanks and we've destroyed two of them.” Rebels want control of the oil facilities 750 km east of the capital Tripoli to begin exporting oil from Brega. The battle for it has been going on for months. In Misrata, a port on the Mediterranean under rebel control for months and about 580 km west of Brega, six rebel fighters were killed in fighting on Friday. There was no word on government casualties. Thrree rebels were killed west of the city where they are fighting to capture Zlitan, a town 160 km east of Tripoli. Three others died in battles with Gaddafi's forces in the town of Tawargha, east of Misrata. Gaddafi's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said the rebels had not entered the city of Brega, and told a news conference more than 20 rebels had been killed in fighting round the city. Gaddafi is clinging to power despite a near five-month-old NATO air campaign, the tightening of economic sanctions and a lengthening war with rebels trying to end his 41-year rule. The rebels have seized large swathes of the North African state, but are divided and fighting on three fronts. In the west, rebel forces driving north towards the town of Zawiyah, within striking distance of Gaddafi's stronghold in the capital, have not moved up from Thursday's positions. Rebels said they had reached the village of Bir Shuaib, 25 km from Zawiyah, which has risen up unsuccessfully against Gaddafi twice this year. Kaim dismissed suggestions the rebels might take Zawiyah and the coastal highway. “In their dreams,” he said. Zawiyah lies less than 50 km west of Tripoli, on the main road to Tunisia, which has been a lifeline for Libya but has begun to crack down on rampant smuggling of gasoline. Rebels in the Western Mountains can muster a few thousand men if their separate units join forces. On the diplomatic front, a Tunisian government official said on Friday there had been contacts last week between US envoys and Gaddafi's representatives on Tunisian soil. The official, who declined to be named, gave no further details. US officials met Gaddafi representatives last month to deliver a message that the embattled Libyan leader must go.
