Gaddafi's air force have bombed oil tanks in Misrata, causing fires which spread to another 4 sites. The news was reported by the insurgents's spokesman, Ahemd Hassan, who claimed the target of attacks to have been Qasr Ahmed, close to Sirte (currently under siege). . .Others claim it was a rocket attack:
struck the fuel terminal of this rebel-controlled city early Saturday with ground-to-ground rockets, igniting a fire that threatened the city’s fuel supply.The main oil storage facility in Misurata burned on Saturday after a missile strike by pro-Qaddafi forces.
The barrage struck shortly after midnight, when rockets began landing and exploding in several areas of the terminal, officials there said.
At least one rocket hit a set of three mammoth tanks, which ruptured and burst into a fireball. The fire settled into a leaping blaze that towered overheard, visible for miles. Its glow illuminated the eastern section of the city throughout the night. Residents woke to a thick, drifting cloud of black smoke.
The attack on the terminal was another escalation against the besieged city, and the second pinpoint attack by Colonel Qaddafi’s forces in two nights.
Residents woke Friday to the news that Misurata’s port, its only lifeline to the outside world, had been peppered with antitank land mines.
TRIPOLI: 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 Saturday.
The bombardment came as artillery rounds fired by forces loyal to Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi fell in Tunisia in an escalation of fighting near the border between Libyan soldiers and anti-Gadhafi rebels.
Misrata is the last remaining city in the west under rebel control. The port city has been under siege for more than two months and has witnessed 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.
“Four [fuel] tanks were totally destroyed and huge fire erupted which spread now to the other four. We cannot extinguish it because we do not have the right tools,” rebel spokesman Ahmad Hassan told Reuters.
“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,” he said by telephone.
WHILE OBAMA IS SASHAYING AROUND GLOATING AND TAKING CREDIT FOR KILLING OSAMA, GADDAFI IS KICKING ASS - AND ASSAD IS PUTTING DOWN HIS REBELLION.
THAT'S WHAT YOU GET WHEN YOU TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE BALL.
UNLESS THESE SETBACKS AREN'T BUGS, BUT FEATURES OF OBAMA'S MIDDLE EAST POLICY.
TAKE YOUR PICK: AS PANETTA SAID ABOUT PAKISTAN: OBAMA IS EITHER INCOMPETENCE OR INVOLVED.
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