- Title: LIBYA: Libya rebels take casualties in fight for Brega
- Date: 13th August 2011
- Summary: BENGHAZI, LIBYA (AUGUST 12, 2011) (REUTERS) WORSHIPPERS GATHERED AT COURTHOUSE IN BENGHAZI CALL TO PRAYER CROWD OF WORSHIPPERS PREACHER GIVES SERMON VARIOUS OF FRIDAY PRAYERS UNDERWAY PEOPLE LOOKING AT A BODY OF PERSON BEING BURIED DECEASED'S FACE MAN WEEPS FOR HIS BROTHER, KILLED IN BREGA VARIOUS OF COFFINS BEING CARRIED COFFINS PLACED ON GROUND
- Embargoed: 28th August 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Libya
- City:
- Country: Libya
- Topics: Conflict
- Reuters ID: LVAEF23HP8BFRTT8RB8YIYP8FYU7
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Rebels on the eastern front of Libya's civil war lost 11 men in the past 24 hours fighting to capture the strategic oil terminal and refinery at Brega on the Mediterranean coast, hospital sources said on Friday (August 12).
Sources at a hospital in Ajdabiyah to the northeast said about 50 were wounded on Thursday and Friday and one civilian in the all-but-deserted town was killed when a rocket fired by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces hit a house.
The rebels have taken the residential zone of New Brega. But that is 15 km (10 miles) from the terminal and port area.
They hope that capturing the port 750 km (miles) east of the capital Tripoli will be a tipping point in their nearly six-month campaign to oust Gaddafi.
They want to begin exporting oil from Brega as quickly as possible.
But the battle for it has been going on for months.
Further east of Brega, in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, a mass funeral was held during Friday prayers for some of the rebels killed in the latest clash.
Up to one thousand mourners gathered to take part outside the courthouse in central Benghazi.
Gaddafi is clinging to power despite a near five-month-old NATO air campaign, tightening 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 deeply divided and lack experience, and Thursday's gains in the east broke weeks of stalemate. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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