Nato aircraft blasted an oil terminal in a key eastern city tonight after Britain urged the alliance to widen its assault on areas controlled by ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

A Libya TV report said the bombs hit methanol tanks at the oil port of Ras Lanouf, causing leaks.

The reported attack came as the Libyan conflict appeared largely stalemated, with each side claiming gains one day, only to be turned back the next.

Libyan rebels said today they have taken full control of the western port city of Misrata, 125 miles from Tripoli, the only major city in western Libya with a significant rebel toehold. The rebel claim could not be confirmed.

In Misrata, rebel fighter Abdel Salam described the situation in Misrata as static.

"The situation is almost frozen, as the rebels are in full control over Misrata," he said. "The rebels are not engaged in any major fighting fronts with Gaddafi forces."

The two sides have been battling intensively over Misrata, symbolic because of its location near Gaddafi's capital. His forces shelled the city heavily and at some points took up positions inside Misrata neighbourhoods to fire at civilians and fighters, while avoiding Nato airstrikes. Rebels and residents say Gaddafi forces remain at the edges of the town.

More than 1,000 people have died in Misrata in the fighting and shelling.

Salam denied earlier reports suggesting that that rebels were advancing toward the western city of Zlitan, which would be the next step on the road to Tripoli.

"The rebels agreed that it is better not to move forward or open new fronts," he said.

He added, "It will be a big risk to advance. Anything could happen and cost us heavy causalities. This is not the right decision to take right now."

While refusing to comment on the reported attack on Ras Lanouf, which is about halfway between Tripoli and the rebel stronghold of Benghazi in eastern Libya, a Nato spokesman in Naples said there was a Nato airstrike at about midday near Zawara, 50 miles from the Tunisian border. He said it was a strike on a pro-Gaddafi military position where there was equipment being used to target civilians.

Tunisia's TAP news agency said Nato planes bombed barracks and radar installations in the Libyan town of Boukamache, about 11 miles from the Tunisian border.

Libyans have been pouring from Boukamache across to Tunisia via the Ras Jdir border post, the report said.

International Criminal Court prosecutors are putting the final touches to their case against three Libyan leaders on charges of murder and persecution in the brutal crackdown on anti-government rebels.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will file a 74-page document with nine annexes outlining the allegations and seeking arrest warrants for the three Libyan leaders considered most responsible for the atrocities.

Moreno-Ocampo has not disclosed the names of the three, but Gaddafi is widely expected to be among them.

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