Libyan rebels said their steady advance on Brega was slowed yesterday by the discovery of defensive trenches around the city that had been filled with flammable chemicals by retreating Gaddafi troops.
After a small rebel reconnaissance force from the north punched through to Brega late on Friday before falling back, a rebel commander said troops were now moving “slowly but surely” toward the town from the east and south as well.
“We are advancing and we are very close to Brega,” said Mustafa al-Sagezli, a member of the rebel’s revolutionary military council, adding that leader Muammar Gaddafi’s troops had fallen back to positions inside the town.
But the commander said landmines and a series of booby-trapped trenches had forced them to slow the attack in order to minimise casualties.
“We know Gaddafi’s forces have installed a lot of mines. They have even dug holes and trenches (filled) with some chemical liquids and oil to fire them when our forces enter Brega,” he said.
It was not clear what kind of chemicals were being used, but the oil hub is home to a large petrochemical facility that produces a range of oil by-products.
Libya’s largely volunteer rebel army began their push on Brega late on Thursday, hoping to oust an estimated 3,000 loyalist fighters and provide a moral boost for war-weary rebel supporters.
By yesterday morning the rebels’ forward position to the north was four kilometres from the town centre, while a second unit attacking from due east of Brega faced stiffer resistance and was about 10 to 20 kilometres from the town.
“Most of Gaddafi’s troops seem to be at the centre,” said a rebel military spokesman. But the assault took its toll, with at least 10 dead and 172 wounded, according to medics.
At a hospital in Ajdabiya where most of the wounded were brought, Dr Ahmed Dinari said many of the casualties were now caused by landmines rather than Gaddafi’s heavy artillery, as earlier on in the offensive.
“We have had five more injuries this morning, all of them from mine explosions,” he said. Lying prone in ‘Bed 2’, 19-year-old Ali Saleh said he had been in the central rebel column in the early hours of the morning when his armoured personnel carrier hit a mine.
“We were very close to Brega at around three in the morning. Then we got instructions from Nato to fall back, and as we were falling back the vehicle hit a mine, destroying the chain track.”
He was suffering from shock and a lightly damaged knee.
Commander El-Sagezli said 250 mines had been uncovered so far.
To the south of the town, where the rebels had made initial gains but suffered large numbers of casualties, Gaddafi forces had pushed back harder, wounding many rebels with rocket fire.