The battle for Brega

Libyan revolutionary fighters observe the desert near to the front line between Ajdabiya and Brega, Libya, on 06 April 2011.

A doctor at a Libyan hospital says more than 50 revolutionary fighters have been killed in six days of fighting with Gaddafi’s forces over the strategic eastern oil town of Brega.
The new toll comes after Mohammed Idris, a doctor at the Ajdabiya hospital where the casualties were taken, raised the number killed in yesterday’s fighting to 27, with 83 wounded.
Idris said today that most had been shot in the head and chest.
“Yesterday it was a disaster,” Dr. Sarahat Atta-Alah told Reuters at Ajdabiya hospital in eastern Libya yesterday.
Revolutionary forces, collectively known as the National Liberation Army (NLA) have said they have encircled Brega, which they must take if they are to advance towards Tripoli, but fighters said they were still coming under fire from pro-Gaddafi forces.
Brega, which provides access to most of Libya’s eastern oil network, has changed hands several times in five months of fighting along Libya’s Mediterranean coast.
Revolutionary fighters said yesterday they had encircled the town, which if captured would mark a major boost for their campaign to oust Gaddafi. Fighters said they were dug in to the south and east of Brega and in control of its eastern residential sector.
The Libyan government has denied the rebels’ reports, saying its soldiers are in Brega.
Doctors at the hospital in Ajdabiya, which lies to the east of Brega, said they expected more fighting later on Wednesday.
An NLA lieutenant, who gave his name as Ihab, said their forces were between 5 and 10 km (3 and 6 miles) outside Brega and Gaddafi’s forces were still in the city.