NATO Air Strike Hits Rebels

Al Jazeera reports:

A NATO air attack has hit a Libyan rebel position near the eastern oil town of Brega, killing at least five fighters, according to rebel fighters and a hospital worker.

Thursday's attack also left at least 10 others wounded, witnesses and correspondents of the AFP news agency said.

Medical workers carried uniforms soaked in blood from one of hospital rooms. And some rebel fighters were weeping on their knees in the corridor.

It was the second time in less than a week that rebels blamed NATO for bombing their comrades by mistake. Thirteen died in an air raid not far from the same spot on Saturday.

A Reuters news agency reporter saw bloodstained stretchers being brought out of the hospital in Ajdabiya, where those wounded in the attack were being treated.

Ajdabiya lies about 80km from Brega.

"We were standing by our tanks and NATO fired two rockets at us," said one, Salem Mislat. "NATO are liars. They are siding with Gaddafi."

Chaotic scenes were witnessed at a rebel checkpoint on the edge of Ajdabiya, with ambulances racing through, heading for the hospital followed by a convoy of rebel military vehicles.

Civilians were ordered away from the checkpoint.

NATO fighter jets have been targeting Muammar Gaddafi's forces around Brega, where rebels have been halted in their bid to advance on the capital Tripoli and oust the Libyan strongman.

But rebels have accused the alliance of failing in their mission to protect civilians while a chief rebel spokesman said coalition warplanes had killed 13 people, four of them civilians, in an air raid near Brega on April 1.