BENGHAZI, Libya - Libyan rebels said Friday they had made advances in Zliten and controlled most of the city in the west front after fierce battles against forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Some 32 rebel fighters were killed and at least 150 were wounded Friday during clashes with soldiers of the Gaddafi forces in Zlitan, east of the capital Tripoli, Libyan TV quoted a rebel spokesman as saying.

Now the fighting is in west of Zlitan, it said.

Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, a military spokesman based in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, said on August 7 at a regular press conference that "Zliten will never return to be at the hand of Gaddafi."

At a press conference on Wednesday, Bani said the Libyan rebels had captured Sabratha, a town about 80 kilometers west of Tripoli.

On the eastern front near Brega, the rebels had controlled two of the three residential districts in the oil town and were fighting with the Gaddafi forces for the industrial area, said Bani.