Heavy fighting grips Libya's besieged Misrata

Libyan regime forces laying siege to Misrata intensified their assault on the lifeline port on Sunday as smoke billowed from a fuel depot bombing, attacks a rights group said may amount to an atrocity. Two loud explosions were also heard in Tripoli, where the regime of embattled Libyan leader Maummar Qadhafi has its headquarters, as jets flew overhead, witnesses said.
Italian coast guards and local fisherman, meanwhile, saved all 500 refugees on a boat from Libya. In Misrata, fighting broke out in the resort area of Burgueya, west of the make-or-break city in the Libyan conflict lying about 200 kilometres (125 miles) east of the capital.
A thick plume of smoke spread over Misrata from blazing fuel depots bombed a day earlier, while long queues could be seen at fuel stations amid fears of shortages, an AFP correspondent said. Forces loyal to Qadhafi "destroyed the only tanks that were full," said Ahmad Monthasser, a rebel from Misrata.
Libyan rebels warned that residents of Misrata could run out of food and water within a month if they are not provided with "game-changing" weapons to defeat Qadhafi's forces. Because of shelling of the port over the past two weeks, only one aid ship a week is now reaching Misrata, spokesman Saddoun el-Misurati told reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Government troops have stepped up their attacks on the port of Misrata, the main source of supplies to rebels fighting to oust the veteran strongman in western Libya.
Misrata is seen as the key to the Libyan conflict, which broke out in mid-February after Qadhafi's security forces waged a bloody crackdown on protests inspired by regime-changing movements in Tunisia and Egypt.
At least nine rebels were killed and 50 wounded in fierce clashes in the north-western town of Zintan as Qadhafi forces pressed the insurgents on several fronts.
An international coalition began carrying out strikes on Qadhafi forces on March 19, under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians in the country. Nato took command of operations over Libya on March 31.
Sunday's explosions came a week after the regime said Seif al-Arab Qadhafi, one of Qadhafi's sons, and three of his grandchildren were killed in a Nato air strike on a compound in Tripoli.
Refugees threw themselves into the water in the night, with some clinging to ropes strung between the rusty fishing boat and the shoreline by rescuers, as officers and local residents dived in to help along the rocky coast.
In neighbouring Egypt, the foreign ministry said on Sunday that Cairo has imposed visa restrictions on Libyans, in a move that will restrict the numbers trying to escape the conflict.