Libya's civil war is reaching stalemate, a senior US general said on Thursday, and rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Qadhafi said a Nato air strike killed five of their fighters. Wounded rebels being brought to a hospital in Ajdabiyah in rebel-held east Libya said they were hit by a Nato strike on their trucks and tanks outside the contested port of Brega.
Nato said it was investigating an attack by its aircraft on a tank column in the area on Thursday. General Carter Ham, head of US Africa command, told a Senate hearing Washington should not provide arms to the rebels without a better idea of who they were. Asked if there was an emerging stalemate, he replied: "I would agree with that at present, on the ground." Medical workers carried blood-soaked uniforms from hospital rooms in Ajdabiyah, gateway to the insurgent stronghold of Benghazi in the east, after wounded fighters were ferried back from Brega. "It was a Nato air strike on us. We were near our vehicles near Brega," wounded fighter Younes Jumaa said from a stretcher at the hospital.
Nurse Mohamed Ali said at least five rebels were dead. Rebel fighters were weeping on their knees in the corridor. "Nato are liars. They are siding with Qadhafi," said Salem Mislat, one of the rebels. It was the second time in less than a week that rebels had blamed Nato for bombing their comrades by mistake. Thirteen were killed in an air strike not far from the same spot on Saturday. The government's Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim told reporters the British air force had damaged an oil pipeline in a strike against the Sarir oilfield which killed three guards.