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Rebel after NATO friendly fire: The coalition 'protects us'

A NATO airstrike intended to thwart Moammar Gadhafi's forces killed 13 rebel fighters in eastern Libya instead, the opposition said Saturday.
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/ Source: msnbc.com news services

A NATO airstrike intended to thwart Moammar Gadhafi's forces killed 13 rebel fighters in eastern Libya instead, the opposition said Saturday, but they described it as an "unfortunate accident" and stressed it did not diminish their support for the international air campaign.

The rebels' response to the attack — blaming it on a mistake within their ranks — highlighted their heavy dependence on the international air campaign as they face the superior military power of the longtime Libyan leader.

The misfire also showed the challenges the coalition faces in identifying targets without coordination with forces on the ground.

"As regrettable as it may be, we understand that we might have to give up lives for the greater good. We have to look at the bigger picture," opposition spokesman Mustafa Gheriani said. "This is a war and the lines are so fluid going back and forth, so it's natural that mistakes will happen."

In fighting early Sunday, at least one person was killed and several wounded when forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi shelled a building in the rebel-held city of Misrata, a resident told Reuters.

The shelling hit a building that was previously being used to treat the wounded from the fighting in Misrata, the resident said. Patients and medical staff had been transferred to another location a few days ago.

"We have one confirmed dead and we don't know how many wounded. The ambulances are arriving now bringing the wounded," said the resident, who was speaking by telephone from the building, now being used as a makeshift hospital.

A man who gave his name as Ayman and said he was a doctor in Misrata told Britain's BBC radio by telephone the building had been hit with two mortar shells.

"We have one killed, three in the operating room now, one with an amputated leg, we have one in ICU (intensive care) because of shell fragments in his chest and we have six wounded with different wounds and they are waiting for an operation but we have only three operating rooms," he said.

Misrata, Libya's third-biggest city, is the last big rebel stronghold left in the west of the country. It has been encircled and under attack for weeks.

A doctor in the city told Reuters on Saturday that 160 people, most of them civilians, had been killed in the fighting there in the past seven days.

The slain rebel fighters were hit Friday night as they moved forward, attempting to take back the oil city of Brega, while airstrikes were in progress. Seven fighters were injured. Another opposition spokesman, Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, said it was an example of the lack of coordination in the ranks that has proven a key obstacle to victory over the more organized Libyan military.

Rebels without training — sometimes even without weapons — have rushed in and out of fighting in a free-for-all for more than six weeks, repeatedly getting trounced by Gadhafi's more heavily armed forces. But ex-military officers who have joined the rebel side have stepped up training efforts and taken a greater role in the fight.

"This unfortunate accident was a mistake that was caused by the rebels' advance during the coalition's attack," Ghoga said. "Now the military leadership that has been organized more effectively recently is working on preventing the recurrence of these accidents."

Rebels in the field had previously said some of their comrades were killed by an airstrike Friday but Ghoga's comments provided the first confirmation.

Two survivors recount attackTwo men who survived the strike said it happened at about 8 p.m. Friday after somebody fired heavy weaponry into the air as a rebel convoy made its way from Ajdabiya toward Brega.

"We were just driving along and then everything was on fire," said 19-year-old Ibrahim al-Shahaibi. "It's fate. They must have thought we were Gadhafi's brigades when they hit us. We need to get rid of him."

Al-Shahaibi was covered up to his chest in a fuzzy brown blanket in the intensive care unit at Benghazi's Jalaa hospital. His right leg was amputated below the knee and his face had severe burns.

Ali Abdullah Zio, 28, an economics student at Qar Younis University in Benghazi, also was lying in a hospital bed, with a swollen face and his head and hands wrapped in white bandages. He was unable to open his eyes.

He said there were four cars and an ambulance in the convoy and everybody was shocked when one of the men fired into the air.

"We all turned to him and said 'why the hell did you do that?' He said it was a mistake, then pulled out of the convoy and drove back to Ajdabiya. Moments later there was an airstrike."

Zio said he wasn't angry, and he planned to return to the front as soon as possible.

"It's the coalition that protects us," he said.

NATO investigatingNATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said the alliance was investigating the reports, and appeared to suggest that its aircraft on patrol had encountered ground fire and retaliated.

Medical staff pray along the road to Brega, as they wait for wounded people
Medical staff pray along the road to Brega, as they wait for wounded people April 2, 2011. REUTERS/Youssef BoudlalYoussef Boudlal / X02771

"The exact details are hard to verify because we have no reliable source on the ground," Lungescu said. "Clearly, if someone fires at one of our aircraft they have the right to defend themselves."

Mohammad Bedrise, a doctor in a nearby hospital, said three burned bodies had been brought in by men who said they had been hit after firing a heavy machine gun in the air in celebration. Idris Kadiki, a 38-year-old mechanical engineer, said he had seen an ambulance and three cars burning after an airstrike.

Rebels told The Associated Press that the fighters were hit about 12 miles east of Brega, which has gone back and forth between rebel and government hands in recent weeks.

NATO, which on Thursday took over what had been a U.S.-led military campaign to stop Gadhafi from attacking his own people, also is investigating whether other airstrikes have killed civilians in western Libya, as the Libyan government claims. The United States, meanwhile, was ending its role in combat missions Saturday, leaving that work for other nations.

Rebels control much of eastern Libya, but in the west the only significant city they hold is Misrata, which has been besieged for weeks by Gadhafi forces who have cut off water, power and food supplies.