Hundreds of mourners in Libya have buried victims of clashes between pro- and anti-government forces at a strategically important oil refinery town, where the opposition beat back an offensive by forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader.
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The coastal town of Brega saw fresh violence erupt on Thursday, as pro-Gaddafi forces attempted again to retake control. Air strikes on the oil-rich area failed to dislodge opposition fighters.
Libya's opposition forces boosted their defence positions in Brega, which lies nearly 800km east of the capital, on Friday morning, in anticipation of another onslaught.
A hospital official said at least 12 people had been killed while defending the town on Wednesday.
Rebel reinforcements from the east of the country are arriving in the nearby town of Ajdabiya and are arming themselves, according to information received by Al Jazeera.
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Dozens marched in a funeral procession in Ajdabiya on Thursday, with five coffins held aloft en route to the cemetery there.
"For the people of Ajdabiya, these men are marytrs to their revolution. And the more of their comrades who are killed, the more they are determined to defeat Muammar Gaddafi," reported Jacky Rowland, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the city.
Mourners shouted slogans against Gaddafi, including: "The blood of marytrs will not be spilled in vain"; "Gaddafi get out, Libyans don't want you!"; and "Gaddafi you're crazy!".
In Benghazi, Libya's second city and a stronghold of the opposition, which has been demanding that Gaddafi step down, about 1,000 people turned out to bury six people, the AFP news agency reported.
A crowd of anti-government activists packed into vehicles and drove to the cemetery, where they fired into the air and said prayers honouring those who had been killed.
In an interview with Al Jazeera's Anita McNaught, the Libyan leader's son Saif al-Islam said the West was trying to take over the country's oil [go to extract of interview].
"They want to destroy it. They want to control its assets," he said.
Struggle intensifies
Witnesses in Ajdabiya and Brega reported fresh fighting on Thursday, with witnesses saying that more government fighter jets had bombed positions near the oil refinery.
"Warplanes dropped a bomb in the area between the oil company and the residential area," Fattah al-Moghrabi, director of supplies for Brega hospital, told the AFP news agency.
"As far as I know, there was no casualties," he said.
Al Jazeera's Rowland reported that the rebels, though poorly equipped and not well trained, set up advanced positions 50km west of Brega on Thursday.
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The reported strike in Brega comes in the wake of a counter-offensive launched by Gaddafi, aimed at taking back lost territory in the country's east. About 300 men loyal to the Libyan leader attacked Brega, some 500km east of the capital, Tripoli, on Wednesday.
A short while later, an air force bomber encircled the town, firing a missile without causing any casualties. The warplane struck a beach near where the two sides were fighting at a university campus.
Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, who was about 70 metres from the missile when it hit, said the opposition managed to repel the strike - maintaining control of the town they seized a week ago.
Located between Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte - still under government control - and the opposition-held eastern port of Benghazi, Brega also sits near ethnic fault lines between tribes loyal to Gaddafi and eastern groups opposed to him.
"They tried to take Brega this morning, but they failed," Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the February 17th Coalition, an anti-government group, told the Reuters news agency on Wednesday.
Government forces were also reported to be battling to regain control of rebel-held towns close to Tripoli, trying to create a buffer zone around what is still Gaddafi's seat of power.
Meanwhile on Thursday, government officials from the Netherlands were trying to win the release of three Dutch marines in Libya.
They were captured on Sunday by forces loyal to Gaddafi after they landed in the coastal city of Sirte. They were trying to rescue two Europeans who have since been handed over to the Dutch embassy in Tripoli.
URL du billet: http://english.aljazeera.net/video/africa/2011/03/2011336535465973.html
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