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 The government said more than 150 people have died, many of them
civilian, in the capital Tripoli and Benghazi in two weeks of
fighting as clashes forced U.S. and foreign diplomats to pull out of
the country.
In Tripoli, 23 people, all Egyptian workers, were killed when a
rocket hit their home on Saturday during fighting between rival
militias battling over the city's main airport, the Egyptian state
news agency reported.
Since the clashes erupted a fortnight ago, 94 people have died in
the capital, and more than 400 have been injured as militias
exchanged rocket and artillery fire across southern Tripoli, the
health ministry said.
Another 55 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Benghazi
since the clashes have intensified over the last week between
regular forces and Islamist militants who are entrenched in the
city.
"Most of the victims we have noticed are civilians as the fighters
have their own hospitals on the battlefield," a Benghazi medical
source told Reuters.
Fuel storage tanks that supply Tripoli were hit on Sunday by rockets
igniting a huge fire near the international airport, the National
oil corporation (NOC) said.
 "It is a tank of 6 million liters of gasoline and it is close to
others containing gas and diesel," NOC spokesman Mohamed al-Alharari
said. "The firefighters are trying to counter the fire but if they
cannot, a big disaster will happen" he added.
DEEP CONCERNS
In the last two weeks, Libya has descended into its deadliest
violence since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, with the
central government unable to impose order.
The United States, the United Nations and Turkey have pulled their
diplomats out of the North African country.
The United States evacuated its embassy on Saturday, driving
diplomats across the border into Tunisia under heavy military
protection because of Tripoli clashes near the embassy compound.
A British embassy convoy was hit by gunfire during an attempted
hijacking outside the capital Tripoli on the way to the Tunisian
border, but no-one was injured in the incident, an embassy official
said on Sunday.
"It was an attempted hijack as the convoy was on its way to the
Tunisian border," the official said. "No one was injured but
vehicles were damaged."
On Sunday, shelling continued in Tripoli around the international
airport that is controlled by militias from the western city of
Zintan. More Islamist-leaning rival brigades are trying to force
them from the airport, which Zintanis have controlled since the fall
of Tripoli.
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But clashes were far heavier in Benghazi overnight, where regular
army and air force units have joined with a renegade ex-army general
who has launched a self-declared campaign to oust Islamist militants
from the city.
A source from the Special forces fighting Islamist militants in
Benghazi told Reuters clashes involved warplanes hitting militant
positions belonging to Ansar al Sharia and another group in the
city.
Libya's Western allies worry the OPEC country is becoming polarized
between the two main factions of competing militia brigades and
their political allies, whose battle is shaping the country's
transition.
Special envoys for Libya from the Arab League, the United States and
European countries expressed their concerns about the situation in
Libya, saying it had reached a "critical stage" and called for an
immediate ceasefire.
"The UN should play a leading role in reaching a ceasefire in
conjunction with the Libyan government and other internal partners,
with the full support of the international envoys," a statement
issued after a meeting in Brussels said.
A new Libyan parliament was elected in June and Western governments
hope warring parties may be able to reach a political agreement when
the lawmakers meet in August for the first session.
But three years after Gaddafi's demise, Libya's transition to
democracy has been delayed by political infighting and militia
violence. Armed groups have also targeted the oil industry to
pressure the state.
(Additional reporting by Ahmed Elumami in Benghazi; Writing by Aziz
El Yaakoubi; Editing by Patrick Markey, Angus MacSwan and David
Evans)
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