reported the city centre remained contested, though it quoted rebels as saying that they controlled seventy percent of Zawiya. A colonel with the Nafusi military command claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera that although fighting continued "as opposition forces are pushing pro-Gaddafi forces out", Zawiya was effectively under their control. Rebels claimed they had taken Sorman, just west of Zawiya, but this report could not be immediately corroborated. A spokesman for opposition forces said ten rebels were killed and thirty-four were injured, but added that the city was secured and fighting had stopped. Fighting reportedly continued in Gharyan, according to a rebel commander, though he said the city was controlled by the Libyan opposition. Two Libyans crossing into Tunisia claimed they witnessed clashes in Sabratha, west of Sorman. Reuters investigated eyewitness accounts of clashes at the Ras Ajdir border crossing from the previous evening and found loyalist Libyan customs and immigration officials operating normally, though occasional gunshots could be heard on the Libyan side of the border. A rebel colonel in the Nafusa Mountains told Al Jazeera that Ajaylat had been secured by anti-Gaddafi forces. 15 August Fighting continued in Zawiya, with rebels still unable to reach Martyrs' Square in the city's centre because of sniper fire and shelling. They told Al Jazeera they had arrested fifteen "mercenaries" and were attempting to clear the remaining pro-Gaddafi forces from the city. Opposition forces said they had taken Gharyan and were in "full control" of the garrison city. Negotiations between NTC and loyalist representatives reportedly took place in Tunisia. According to some reports, foreign officials were also present, including former Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib in his capacity as the UN's special envoy to Libya. One report suggested a representative from the Venezuelan government, a strong ally of Tripoli, was in attendance. Other reports said Qatari and South African aircraft were at Djerba, the Tunisian island where negotiations between the factions had historically been held. NTC Vice Chairman Abdul Hafiz Ghoga categorically denied his government was negotiating with the Gaddafi government, while the UN declined to confirm or deny whether Khatib was mediating negotiations. Interior Minister Nasr al-Mabrouk Abdullah apparently defected from the Gaddafi government, flying to Cairo, Egypt, with his family. Opposition fighters in Sabratha said they were negotiating the surrender of loyalist holdouts in the coastal town. The NTC issued a statement urging people in areas still under