Libyan key oil storage tanks on fire

BBC

Shelling by so-called Islamic State (IS) on two oil terminals in Libya has started fires that have spread to giant storage tanks, officials say.

The fires are reported to be raging in Sidra and Ras Lanouf, on the coast between Sirte and Benghazi.

Officials said at least 10 guards had been killed since IS attacked the neighbouring ports on Monday.

Warplanes from Libya’s internationally recognised government have provided air support to help defend the area.

Libya has been split between rival militias and two competing governments since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

IS has been operating in Libya for about a year, and in December France warned that the group was aiming to seize the country’s oil wells.

Ali al-Hassi, of the Petrol Facilities Guard militia, said on Wednesday that neither Sidra nor Ras Lanouf had fallen to IS so far.

Firefighters, he said, were trying to control blazes at four oil storage tanks in Sidra and one in Ras Lanouf – each thought to contain more than 400,000 barrels of oil.

Mr Hassi also said guards had recovered the bodies of 30 militants and had captured military vehicles.

On Monday, IS said it had taken control of the town of Bin Jawad, 30km (19 miles) west of Sidra on the road from its stronghold in Sirte.

The jihadists failed to take Sidra in an attack last October.

In December, Libya’s rival politicians signed a UN-brokered deal to form a unity government, but that has not yet been implemented.

Libya’s rival power bases (as of August 2015)