Libya Captures 3 Dutch Marines; May Accept Hugo Chavez Plan

Forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have captured three Dutch marines who swooped into Libya by helicopter to evacuate stranded civilians, in the first known case of foreigners being kidnapped by the dictator's regime in the nearly three-week-long popular rebellion that's split the country.

In related developments today:

The Libyan government has accepted a plan by Gadhafi's friend Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to seek a negotiated solution to the uprising, according to a Reuters report. Reports that the Arab League had shown interest in Chavez's proposal to send an international commission to talk with both sides in Libya pushed oil prices below $102 a barrel.
Gadhafi's warplanes bombed eastern Libya for a second straight day, but rebels appeared to be holding Brega, a key oil installation site inside rebel territory in the east, despite a government counteroffensive. Pickup trucks loaded with soldiers who've switched sides to join pro-democracy forces arrived to reinforce Brega this morning, The Associated Press reported.

Ben Curtis, AP

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi speaks in Tripoli on Wednesday. His government has been holding three Dutch marines since Sunday.

The Dutch government said its naval airmen were captured after their helicopter touched down Sunday on the Mediterranean coast near Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte. They were trying to rescue two people, a Dutch national and another European citizen, but Libyan fighters seized the whole group. The two would-be evacuees were handed over to the Dutch Embassy and have since been allowed to leave the country.

The helicopter was "surrounded by armed Libyan forces late on Sunday afternoon," a Dutch defense ministry spokesman told The New York Times. "Intensive negotiations" are under way for their release, he said.

But the Dutch marines are still in Libyan custody. "We have also been in contact with the crewmen involved," a defense spokesman also told the AP. He declined to label them hostages.

Their capture was kept quiet for four days for security reasons, Radio Netherlands reported.

The fear is that the Dutch troops could be used as a bargaining chip by Gadhafi's increasingly isolated regime, or for propaganda purposes. In 2007, a group of British marines were captured by Iranian forces in the Persian Gulf and paraded in front of state TV cameras before being released in what Iran described as a benevolent gesture.

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Photos From Libya

Bullet casings fly as anti-government fighters shoot into the air Thursday during a funeral for slain comrades in Ajdabiya, Libya. Click the image for more photos from Libya.

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Photos From Libya

TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY DEBORAH PASMANTIER An image grab from AFP TV footage, shows 72-year-old Libyan Mohammed Ettabal, father of slain Osama Ettabal, the first rebel killed by Moamer Kadhafi's forces in the latest anti-regime protests, during an interview on March 02, 2011 in the hardliner's western stronghold of Roujdane. Twenty-nine year old Osama has become a hero of the uprising against the four-decade-old regime after he was shot dead in his hometown of Roujdane on February 16. AFP PHOTO/DSK (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

Photos From Libya

TO GO WITH STORY BY DEBORAH PASMANTER A Libyan anti-government fighter stands on a mountain near Nalut, western Libya, on March 1, 2011. Rebels at heart but short on means, Libya's Berber tribes quickly joined the uprising against Moamer Kadhafi and seized control of the mountainous west in an effort to secure their freedom. The uprising launched in eastern Benghazi on February 15 spread fast to the western mountains, or Jebel Gharbi, where within days villages fell like dominos to the opposition movement challenging Kadhafi's regime. AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR (Photo credit should read FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Photos From Libya

TO GO WITH STORY BY DEBORAH PASMANTER Libyan anti-government fighters, one of them looking through binoculars, stand on a mountain near Nalut, western Libya, on March 1, 2011. Rebels at heart but short on means, Libya's Berber tribes quickly joined the uprising against Moamer Kadhafi and seized control of the mountainous west in an effort to secure their freedom. The uprising launched in eastern Benghazi on February 15 spread fast to the western mountains, or Jebel Gharbi, where within days villages fell like dominos to the opposition movement challenging Kadhafi's regime. AFP PHOTO / FRED DUFOUR (Photo credit should read FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Photos From Libya

A former Libyan army soldier shows new Libyan rebel recruits how to use the AK-47, during a training session after signing up with the forces against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at a training base in Benghazi, eastern Libya, on Thursday March 3, 2011. Rebel forces routed troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in a fierce battle over an oil port Wednesday, scrambling over the dunes of a Mediterranean beach through shelling and an airstrike to corner their attackers. While they thwarted the regime's first counteroffensive in eastern Libya, opposition leaders still pleaded for outside airstrikes to help them oust the longtime leader. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Photos From Libya

New Libyan rebel recruits flash the victory sign and chant slogans as they stand in formation during a training session after signing up with the forces against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at a training base in Benghazi, eastern Libya, on Thursday March 3, 2011. Rebel forces routed troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in a fierce battle over an oil port Wednesday, scrambling over the dunes of a Mediterranean beach through shelling and an airstrike to corner their attackers. While they thwarted the regime's first counteroffensive in eastern Libya, opposition leaders still pleaded for outside airstrikes to help them oust the longtime leader. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Photos From Libya

New Libyan rebel recruits stand in formation during a training session after signing up with the forces against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi at a training base in Benghazi, eastern Libya, on Thursday March 3, 2011. Rebel forces routed troops loyal to Moammar Gadhafi in a fierce battle over an oil port Wednesday, scrambling over the dunes of a Mediterranean beach through shelling and an airstrike to corner their attackers. While they thwarted the regime's first counteroffensive in eastern Libya, opposition leaders still pleaded for outside airstrikes to help them oust the longtime leader. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Photos From Libya

This is the first known case of Gadhafi's fighters capturing and holding foreigners during the recent unrest in Libya. On Feb. 22, after the start of fighting between pro-Gadhafi forces and pro-democracy rebels, the U.S. State Department warned foreign journalists that the Libyan government might consider them "terrorist collaborators" if caught in the country. Hundreds of journalists have since flooded into Libya, mostly in the rebel-held east where Gadhafi is no longer in power. There have been no known cases of kidnappings.

The Libyan leader has lashed out at any suggestion of foreign military forces entering the country to help stabilize it. In a rambling, nearly three-hour speech in Tripoli Wednesday, Gadhafi warned that "thousands of Libyans will die" if the U.S. or NATO intervene in his country's affairs. "They will set foot in hell -- worse than Afghanistan," he said.