Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Opposition fighters continued to push west Monday, entering territory loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, but were quickly beaten back, rebels told CNN, highlighting the tenuous nature of their recent gains.
As they moved into Umm el Ghindel -- near Sirte, Gadhafi's birthplace -- opposition fighters began searching homes and found that Gadhafi's forces had armed residents in the area, they said. As they were talking to residents, asking them to join the opposition, gunfire broke out. Rebels told CNN they refused to fire back and began a hasty retreat. A stream of vehicles could be seen fleeing the area.
CNN could not independently confirm details of what had transpired.
Earlier, a wounded rebel with bandages on the left side of his head and face described what happened Monday about 30 kilometers (nearly 20 miles) from Sirte, near the city's main entrance.
He said he and a group of fellow opposition fighters came across a group of Gadhafi forces who raised a white flag -- a suggestion that they would not shoot. But as the opposition approached the group, Gadhafi forces fired on them indiscriminately, killing some of the opposition members and wounding others, the rebel told CNN's Arwa Damon. Vehicles were destroyed as well, he said.
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