Nine people were killed Saturday and 79 were injured as loyalist landmines began to vie with Grad rockets to ramp up the casualties, according to a list from the hospital in nearby Ajdabiya.
A total of 178 people have been injured since the offensive began at around 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Thursday.
Libyan rebels said their steady advance on Brega was slowed Saturday by minefields and the discovery of defensive trenches around the city that had been filled with flammable chemicals by retreating Kadhafi troops.
"We know Kadhafi`s forces have installed a lot of mines, they have even dug holes and trenches (filled) with some chemical liquids and oil to fire them when our forces enter Brega," said Mustafa El-Sagezli, a member of the rebel`s revolutionary military council.
According to rebel forces spokesman Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, some 400 mines have been discovered on the approach to the town.
Lying prone in "Bed 2" at the Ajdabiya facility, 19-year-old Ali Saleh said he had been in the central rebel column in the early hours of Saturday when his armoured personnel carrier hit a mine.
"We were very close to Brega at around three in the morning. Then we got instructions from NATO to fall back and as we were falling back the vehicle hit a mine, destroying the chain track."
He was suffering from shock and a lightly damaged knee.
The number of dead from Kadhafi`s forces was not known. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
