Tripoli's main fuel depot burns as rival factions battle

Fire tore through Tripoli's main fuel depot on Saturday after rockets fired by one of Libya's militias struck and ignited a tank, the National Oil company (NOC) said, as Britain announced it would close its embassy in Tripoli and evacuate its staff.

Thousands have fled the violence in Libya in recent weeks, as battles between rival militias intensified. Last week, a Filipino citizen working in Libya was beheaded and a Filipino nurse was gang-raped, prompting the Philippines to announce planned evacuations.

Black plumes of smoke rose over the fuel tanks, which store oil for use in the capital and are located near Tripoli's international airport. Firefighters deployed to tackle the blaze were forced back by the fighting, NOC spokesman Mohamed al-Harari said.

Meanwhile, Britain said Saturday that it will close its embassy in Tripoli from Aug. 4, evacuating diplomatic staff to Tunisia, after fighting between rival armed factions spread in the Libyan capital, officials said.

Britain was one of the last western countries with an embassy open in Tripoli after two weeks of street fighting between rival militias forced the United States, the United Nations and European diplomatic staff to leave the North African country.

"Reluctantly we've decided we have to leave and temporarily suspend embassy operations in Libya," British Ambassador to Libya Michael Aron said on his Twitter account. "The risk of getting caught in the crossfire is too great."

Fighting in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi is the worst since the 2011 civil war that ended four decades of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, increasing international worries that Libya is becoming a failed state.

Most of the recent fighting has centered on controlling the capital's airport, and frequent gun battles have been reported in Tripoli — leading to a mass exodus from Libya into neighboring countries. Tunisia on Friday closed its border with Libya after thousands tried to break through the crossing in an attempt to flee the violence.

Since the 2011 revolution, fighting amongst heavily armed militia groups has eroded centralized governance and the rule of law in Libya.

A former general in Gaddafi’s army, Khalifa Haftar leads the most powerful of these groups and has the support of powerful tribes in eastern Libya. Haftar has been critical of the country’s transitional government, calling it ineffective in the face of Islamist militias in Benghazi, where fighters this week overran army bases and claimed control of the city.

The Libyan Health Ministry said fighting in Tripoli this week has killed 214 people and wounded more than 980 others.

Wire services