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Rebels say government forces stormed their positions on outskirts of strategic western town in pre-dawn assault.
Rebel fighters have been engaging with Gaddafi forces in Zlitan, Nafusa and Brega in recent days (AFP)
Fighting has broken out in the western Libyan town of Zlitan, after rebel forces say troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi launched an offensive on their positions in the town’s suburbs.Several rebel fighters told Al Jazeera that they were taken off guard during the offensive early on Tuesday morning, and that Gaddafi’s forces had used tanks to launch an “all out offensive,” outflanking rebel positions on the outskirts of the town.
At least seven rebel fighters were killed and a further 30 wounded in the fighting, opposition forces said.
“At this particular moment I can’t tell you how much [the rebels] pulled back,” said Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel Hamid, reporting from Misrata, where many of those wounded during the fighting were being treated.
“Earlier, several fighters told me they had pulled back – the situation is still extremely fluid.”
Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, a Benghazi-based spokesman for the rebels’ military, told the AFP news agency that the opposition forces had launched a counter-offensive in Zlitan, and were involved in a “vicious fight” with pro-Gaddafi forces in the centre of the city.
Bani said that clashes also took place in the eastern oil town of Brega on Tuesday, where the rebels fought with pro-Gaddafi forces for several hours before being forced to retreat.
‘Mixed Messages’
Abdel Hamid said that Zlitan, as the last major town left in government hands to the east of Tripoli, would be a key strategic gain for the rebels, but that they face several difficulties in taking the town.
For one, she said, Gaddafi’s forces are present there “in large numbers”, with reports of the Libyan army’s 32nd Brigade being deployed there.
Second, the rebels have been “receiving very mixed messages from the residents of Zlitan,” she said.
While some residents told rebel fighters that they are openly pro-Gaddafi, others have told them that they will receive support if they attempt to take the town, she said.
Rebel fighters say that they would only enter the town if they receive an “invitation” from the local tribes.
Russia, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that the fighting in Libya has reached a “dead end”, and that all parties should seek “political and diplomatic solutions”.
“The situation has reached a dead end that confirms that there is no military solution,” Sergei Vershinin, the head of the foreign ministry’s Middle East and North Africa department, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
“We have to go back to searching for political and diplomatic solutions.”
