Gaddafi forces shell Misrata fuel depots, drop mines

Muammar Gaddafi's forces yesterday shelled fuel depots in Misrata and dropped mines using helicopters bearing the Red Cross emblem into the harbour, rebels said, as they braced for a new ground assault on the besieged port city.
The latest fighting comes as Amnesty International lashed out at the Libyan regime, saying its more than two-month "horrifying" siege of Misrata could be a war crime.
"There are still attacks by Grad missiles and our fighters are still resisting," said Colonel Ahmed Omar Bani, military spokesman of the rebels' Benghazi-based National Transitional Council.
"They tried again to destroy the Misrata port but our fighters didn't allow them to do that," he said, adding that gaddafi loyalists had switched tactics and were now focusing their offensive on fuel depots.
The rebels also accused Gaddafi forces of using helicopters bearing the Red Cross emblem and dropping mines into the harbour of Misrata, the major western hold-out of the insurgents.
He said the choppers had been disguised as humanitarian aircraft carrying the emblems of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent.
A spokeswoman at the ICRC's Geneva headquarters said they had received similar reports but could not confirm them, as the organisation currently has no team on the ground.
The rebels said they were bracing for a new ground assault on Misrata.
Libya's tribal chiefs called in a meeting Friday for a "general amnesty law which will include all those who were involved in the crisis and took up arms."
But doubts were cast on the proposal of National Conference for Libyan Tribes, as its statement referred to rebels as "traitors" and pledged not to "abandon" or "forsake" Gaddafi, whose ouster the insurgents are demanding.