Summary
A huge fuel depot in Libya's capital burned out of control on Monday, set ablaze in fighting between rival militias that has driven the country to chaos three years after the NATO-backed revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.
The United States, United Nations and Turkish embassies have already shut operations after the worst violence since the 2011 uprising.
The health ministry said on Sunday nearly 160 people had been killed in fighting in Tripoli and in Benghazi where regular forces and militias have clashed in open street battles with Islamist militants entrenched there.
In Tripoli, on one side are troops from the western town of Zintan and their allies the Qaaqaa and al-Sawaiq brigades, who include some former Gaddafi troops who rebelled in 2011 .
Against them are ranged various Islamist-leaning militias allied to the port city of Misrata, which is closer to the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Libya.
In Benghazi, regular special forces and air force units have joined up with a renegade former army general who has launched a self-declared war on Islamist militants in the city.
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