Gadhafi Forces Attack Oil Refinery, Blast at Airport Arms Depot

Moammar Gadhafi’s forces put up unexpectedly fierce resistance Monday, launching a deadly raid on an oil refinery far behind the front lines even as the ousted despot's son Saadi fled to Niger.

Southeast of Tripoli, civilians poured out of the desert town of Bani Walid after intense fighting on Sunday between Gadhafi loyalists holed up in the sprawling oasis and encircling new regime troops, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen vowed there would be no let-up in the alliance's bombing campaign against Gadhafi’s remaining strongholds, which also include his hometown of Sirte and the southern oases of Waddan and Sabha, as long as his forces pose a threat.

The Gadhafi force killed 12 soldiers loyal to the new government in its attack on the oil refinery near Ras Lanuf on Libya's central coast, National Transitional Council military spokesman Mohammed Zawawi told AFP.

"So far, we have a figure of 12 dead in the ranks of the revolutionaries" guarding the key plant, Zawawi said after the attack deep behind NTC lines.

"A group (of loyalists) travelling in five vehicles tried to enter the refinery but were unable to," he said.

The oil infrastructure along the Mediterranean coast between Sidra and Brega was a key battleground of the seven-month uprising against Gadhafi and the front line between the mainly rebel-held east and mainly government-held west went back and forth several times.

But since the fall of Tripoli last month, NTC forces have advanced dozens of kilometers (miles) west towards Sirte, which remains in the hands of Gadhafi loyalists, and have moved to secure the vital oil infrastructure on which its post-war reconstruction plans depend.

As civilians poured out of Bani Walid, many more residents remained trapped inside the town, 180 kilometers (110 miles) from the capital, for want of fuel for their vehicles, those fleeing said.

NTC fighters made little effort to check the identities of those passing through the checkpoints, the AFP correspondent said.

"Families are scared to death by this war," said Mohammed Suleiman as he passed through with 10 relatives crammed into the back of his white BMW.

Ezzedine Ramadan said the ferocity of Sunday's exchanges had prompted him to leave.

"Gadhafi’s men were firing indiscriminately from the hills and rebels responded," he said as he drove through with his family.

"We are expecting another attack today, so we left," he told AFP.

His wife Ibtissam said they had been forced to leave behind her brother.

"I am scared for those families stuck in the middle because there is no petrol," she said.

A medic at a field clinic outside Bani Walid said that at least 10 people had been killed in Sunday's exchanges.

"We received 10 killed and almost 20 injured, among them a woman with chest wounds," said surgeon Riba Ahmed.

In its latest update on Monday, NATO said warplanes under its command had hit 13 targets in and around Sirte, four around Waddan and one near Sabha.

The NATO chief said the strikes would go on until the threat to civilians had been eliminated.

"We have seen also during this weekend that remnants of Gadhafi’s regime still constitute a threat to the civilian population," Rasmussen told reporters in London. "So as long as this threat exists, we will continue," he added.

West of Sirte, an NTC field commander said that his forces had met fierce resistance as they advanced towards the city on Sunday.

"We advanced yesterday to a place called Checkpoint 50," 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Sirte, said field commander Umran al-Awaib.

"There was strong resistance -- we came under fire from a lot of Grads (rockets)."

The fight back by Gadhafi loyalists came despite the flight on his son Saadi to neighboring Niger on Sunday.

"Today, September 11, a patrol of the Nigerien armed forces intercepted a convoy in which was found one of Gadhafi’s sons," Niger government spokesman Marou Amadou said on Sunday.

"At this moment the convoy is en route to Agadez (northern Niger). The convoy could arrive in Niamey between now and (Monday)," he added.

Saadi, 38, the third of Gadhafi’s seven sons and known as a playboy, had last month offered to give himself up "if my surrender stops the spilling of blood."

He was hired in 2003 to play for Italian first division club Perugia but barely kicked a ball when he was suspended after testing positive for nandrolone, an anabolic steroid.

He renounced his football career in 2004 to join the army, where he led an elite unit.

Niger vowed Friday to respect international commitments if wanted Libyans entered its territory, and confirmed that three Gadhafi-era generals, including his air force chief, Al-Rifi Ali Al-Sharif, had arrived in Agadez.

Niamey has denied that Gadhafi himself is on its soil.

In the capital, a massive explosion at an arms depot near the international airport injured two people on Monday, an AFP photographer and witnesses said.

"The munitions exploded because they were badly stored," a guard at the depot said. "Two people were hurt in the explosion and were taken to hospital."

Banks meanwhile prepared to start withdrawing from circulation the 50-dinar banknote, which bears a portrait of Gadhafi and, with a value of around 40 dollars is Libya's largest denomination.

"The banks have agreed to start withdrawing these notes and handing them in to the central bank," a branch manager of the National Commercial Bank, Talal al-Dhagisi, told AFP.