NATO air attack has hit a Libyan rebel position near the eastern oil town of Brega, killing at least five fighters, according to rebel fighters

Libyan rebels hit by NATO air attack

Second such incident in less than a week leaves five fighters dead, in country's eastern oil town of Brega.

A NATO air attack has hit a Libyan rebel position near the eastern oil town of Brega, killing at least five fighters, according to rebel fighters and a hospital worker. Thursday's attack also left at least 10 others wounded, witnesses and correspondents of the AFP news agency said. Medical workers carried uniforms soaked in blood from one of hospital rooms. And some rebel fighters were weeping on their knees in the corridor.

It was the second time in less than a week that rebels blamed NATO for bombing their comrades by mistake. Thirteen died in an air raid not far from the same spot on Saturday. A Reuters news agency reporter saw bloodstained stretchers being brought out of the hospital in Ajdabiya, where those wounded in the attack were being treated. Ajdabiya lies about 80km from Brega.

"We were standing by our tanks and NATO fired two rockets at us," said one, Salem Mislat. "NATO are liars. They are siding with Gaddafi." Checkpoint chaos Chaotic scenes were witnessed at a rebel checkpoint on the edge of Ajdabiya, with ambulances racing through, heading for the hospital followed by a convoy of rebel military vehicles. Civilians were ordered away from the checkpoint. NATO fighter jets have been targeting Muammar Gaddafi's forces around Brega, where rebels have been halted in their bid to advance on the capital Tripoli and oust the Libyan strongman. But rebels have accused the alliance of failing in their mission to protect civilians while a chief rebel spokesman said coalition warplanes had killed 13 people, four of them civilians, in an air raid near Brega on April 1.

The attack followed reports of pro-democracy fighters having regained ground in a new advance on Brega.

Rebels said the loss of ground early this week to forces loyal to Gaddafi is a normal occurrence in fluid desert wars, and will not prevent them from ousting the Libyan leader. Earlier, NATO stepped up the pace of its air campaign over Libya on Wednesday, a day after facing fierce criticism of not doing enough to protect civilians in Misurata. The alliance dismissed opposition criticisms, saying the safety of civilians is its top priority and pledged to do everything it can to ensure that.

It accused Gaddafi's troops of hiding tanks, troops and heavy weapons among civilians to stop NATO aircrafts from carrying out air strikes. But Al Jazeera's Laurence Lee, reporting from Benghazi on Thursday,  said that Abdel-Hafidh Ghoga, the vice-chairman of the Libyan National Provisional Council, continues to insist that NATO do more.  "He has certainly strengthened his language, and he even went on to call NATO a 'burden', which is an extraordinary thing to say under the current circumstances." "There is obviously agreement here among the opposition that if more military gains are to be made, international forces must step up their operations."

Loss of territory Gaddafi's forces pushed back rebels from Brega on Tuesday in the pro-democracy movement's first significant loss of territory in almost a week. "This kind of desert fight is very fluid; advancing 20 kilometres and then retreating 20 kilometres is normal in a desert war," Mustafa Gheriani, a rebel spokesman, said.

Gheriani said "our forces are at the eastern border of the city, the [Gaddafi] militias are inside the city and the fight is going on".