Libyan government forces bombed large fuel storage tanks in the contested western city of Misrata, destroying the tanks and sparking a huge fire, rebels said today.
Misrata is the last remaining city in the west under rebel control. The port city has been under siege for more than two months. Hundreds have died in some of the war's fiercest fighting between loyalists and rebels.
Rebels gave varying accounts of the Misrata bombardment but said the overnight attack, which hit fuel used for export as well as domestic consumption, came as a blow to their ability to withstand the siege.
"Now the city will face a major problem. Those were the only sources of fuel for the city. These tanks could have kept the city for three months with enough fuel," rebel spokesman Ahmed Hassan said.
He said government forces used small planes normally used to spray pesticides for the overnight attack in Qasr Ahmed. He later told Al-Jazeera television that three helicopters bearing Red Crescent insignia conducted the attack.
Meanwhile, artillery rounds fired by forces loyal to Muammar Gadafy fell in Tunisia today as fighting broke out near the border between Libyan soldiers and rebels.
Schools were evacuated and residents scurried for safety in the Tunisian frontier town of Dehiba, which has been hit repeatedly by stray shells in recent weeks as the Libyan rivals fight for control of a nearby border crossing.
Fighting has intensified in Libya's Western Mountains region as Gadafy loyalists and rebels, backed by Nato bombing, reach stalemate on other fronts in the war over Africa's third biggest oil producer.
Billows of dust and rock marked where at least four projectiles struck on the Tunisian side.
The battle is for control of the Dehiba-Wazzin border crossing, which gives the rebels a road from the outside world into strongholds in the Western Mountains region where they are fighting to end Col Gadafy's rule of more than four decades.
The crackle of small arms could be heard from about 4km inside Libya, where rebels and loyalists exchanged fire, but the border post remained open - most of the cars carrying refugees fleeing the fighting.
"We are very afraid. The missiles are falling right around us, we don't know what to do," said Tunisian Mohammed Naguez, a resident of Dehiba. "Our children are afraid. The Tunisian authorities have to stop this."
Although the rebels hold the Dehiba-Wazzin border point, the regime's forces are in charge of a far bigger one to the north.
Most of the people in the Western Mountains belong to the Berber ethnic group and are distinct from other Libyans. They rose up two months ago and say towns such as Zintan and Yafran are under repeated bombardment from Col Gadafy's forces, running short of food, water and medicine.
Rebels have been aided by Nato airstrikes against loyalist heavy weaponry, but it has not been enough to give them a decisive edge.
Last week, fighting at the Tunisian border crossed into Dehiba itself, drawing furious protests to Libya from Tunisia's authorities. Tunisian soldiers set up blockades and patrolled inside Dehiba today after the fighting resumed.
More than 30,000 Libyan refugees have crossed from the Western Mountains into Tunisia, where many are being hosted by local families.
Sympathy for the Libyan rebels tends to be strong in Tunisia, where the ousting of an authoritarian president in January after 23 years in power sparked uprisings in Libya and across the Arab world.
Reuters