Nightly News   |  April 07, 2011

Friendly fire kills rebel fighters in Libya

For the second time in less than a week, NATO fighter jets appear to have accidentally hit the wrong side, leaving at least five people killed and more than a dozen wounded. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> rebels went from bad to worse today. it's today what nato did do by accident that stoked the rage. we have sareport tonight from benghazi.

>> reporter: this hospital in eastern libya sees wounded rebels every day, but today, it wasn't gadhafi who put them here. the rebels say it was nato . for the second time in less than a week, nato fighter jets appeared to have sdnaccidentally hit the right site. at least four were killed and a dozen wounded. nato made no comment saying they had to investigate the instant. it took place right outside of the oil town brega. five minutes ago, this checkpoint was quiet. now they have heard word that their tanks, rebel tanks have been bombed by nato planes. we have seen a stetdy stream of amblnlss going out and heavy arms going in. the fighters already angry nato wasn't doing enough to help them. now this. their dogs, this man cried. they're all dogs. back in washington, the general who led the u.s. operation in libya before handing control over to nato acknowledged the battle is looking more and more like a stalemate.

>> i would like to know if you think a stalemate is an acceptable outcome of the conflict in libya ?

>> my personal opinion, that is not the preferred solution.

>> reporter: in eastern libya , no solution means more fighting. gadhafi hit the gates, the further east his forces have been in ten days. panicked followed by a quick retre retreat. this is what they have been doing over and over again, instead of digging in and fighting back, they turn and run. in the center of town, the rebels fired back. guided rockets aimed at an enemy they couldn't even see. the general's senate testimony raised another alarming issue. there are an estimated 20,000 shoulder-fired rockets that are unaccounted for in libya . it's unclear if they're even in the country at all and they could pose a regional and international threat. ann?