Latest update on #zliten/#brega: Libya rebels say forces enter Qaddafi-held Zliten nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDet… #Libya
Libya rebels say forces enter Qaddafi-held Zliten
August 2, 2011 
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Libya's rebels said on Tuesday they launched a post-dawn attack on the western town of Zliten, punching through to the center and sparking fierce clashes with forces loyal to Moammar Qaddafi.
"The rebels advanced today inside Zliten to control the center. Now there is a vicious fight with Qaddafi's forces," said Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, a military spokesperson based in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
The fight for Zliten -- which lies just 120 kilometers (east of the capital Tripoli -- began shortly after sunrise. In recent weeks Libya's rebels have been slowly advancing on Zliten from their enclave at Misrata, 70 kilometers to the east.They have been aided by NATO air strikes, which on Monday hit one Qaddafi command and control node and one military facility in the town. Zliten has long been held by Qaddafi's forces, and was suspected of being a base for multiple rocket attacks on Misrata that have killed scores of civilians.
Meanwhile in the east, Bani said rebels fought for hours with Qaddafi forces at the oil hub of Brega on Tuesday, with a small unit of 45 troops entering the town's eastern residential district.
"There were clashes with Qaddafi's forces and it went on four hours and then they had to retreat back," Bani said.
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