Pro-Gadhafi forces hit rebel fuel depots

Libyan rebel fighters attempt to put out a fire Saturday at a fuel depot in Misrata.NEW: Libyan rebels say Italy has agreed to arm themNEW: Italy denies such a dealMissiles destroy six fuel containers in Misrata, says rebel spokesmanThe fuel there was used for electricity and generators

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces bombed key fuel depots in the contested city of Misrata Saturday, destroying six containers and causing a massive fire, a rebel spokesman said.

Meanwhile, in the de facto rebel capital, Benghazi, the Libyan opposition said Italy has agreed to arm the rebels.

Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the National Transitional Council, said opposition representatives have flown to Italy to finish the deal.

The Italian Foreign Ministry categorically denied it will send weapons to Libya. A press office spokesman said Italy will only go as far as sending non-lethal weapons such as satellite and radar systems to aid the rebels.

The rebels, intent on winning on the ground without foreign troops, have been asking for arms supplies as a grinding war rages in cities like Misrata.

Three green helicopters with the internationally recognized symbols of the Red Cross and Red Crescent were seen flying over Misrata's port early Saturday, said rebel spokesman Ahmed Hassan. He said Gadhafi's forces are using aid helicopters to bomb the city.

The fuel depots were located 2 kilometers from the port. The oil stored there was used for electricity and generator plants.

"We lost a lot of fuel which is used for the daily life of the city," Hassan said.

Misrata, the only city in western Libya held by the rebels, has been the scene of heavy fighting for weeks as Gadhafi's forces try to reclaim control.

The international community has accused Gadhafi of attacking his own citizens and NATO took control of airstrikes in late March to protect Libyans.

NATO said it struck ammunition facilities in the Misrata area Friday as well as other military targets in Tripoli, Zintan, Mizdah, Sirte, Ras Lanuf and al-Brega.

As time wears on, human rights groups have expressed increasing concern for besieged Libyans in Misrata.

Ealier this week, Amnesty International said Gadhafi's attacks in the port city may amount to war crimes.

A report issued by the monitoring group accused pro-Gadhafi forces of the "unlawful killing of civilians due to indiscriminate attacks, including use of heavy artillery, rockets and cluster bombs in civilian areas and sniper fire against residents."

It also documented "systematic shooting at peaceful protesters and enforced disappearance of perceived opponents, which can amount to crimes against humanity."

The scale of the relentless attacks that we have seen by Gadhafi forces to intimidate the residents of Misrata for more than two months is truly horrifying," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's senior adviser who is currently in Libya.

CNN's Mitra Mobasherat and Amir Ahmed and journalist Livia Borghese contributed to this report.

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Pro-Gadhafi forces pound cities after NATO attack

Libyan rebels on patrol near the airport at al-Ghiran close to the key port city of Misrata on April 30, 2011.A U.S. official blames an "organized mob" for attacks on embassiesNATO has "no evidence" to confirm Gadhafi relatives died, one official saysWitnesses report heavy fire from pro-Gadhafi forces in Misrata and BenghaziOne man thinks it is "revenge" for a strike that reportedly killed one of Gadhafi's sons

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Government forces pounded rebel-held cities and crowds ransacked empty embassies in Tripoli on Sunday after Libyan authorities reported a NATO airstrike killed one of longtime strongman Moammar Gadhafi's sons and three of his grandchildren.

The U.S. Embassy was attacked by what one U.S. official called an "organized mob," along with the British, French, Italian and Qatari embassies, British and Italian officials told CNN. Meanwhile, pro-Gadhafi forces stepped up their shelling of rebel positions in Benghazi and Misrata after Libya's government reported the deaths.

"It's going to be like revenge," one eyewitness in the embattled coastal city of Misrata said.

The eyewitness reported significant damage and some casualties in Misrata, the country's third-largest city. The city remains in rebel hands, with no forces aligned with Gadhafi remaining in the city itself, he said.

Another witness, who agreed to be identified only as Mohammed, said "very heavy shelling" targeted the coastal city's port.

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"I have been here during all days of the conflict," he told CNN. "Last night was the worst."

And a third man, who wanted to be identified only as Abdsalam, said the port was heavily bombarded. Electricity is out in nearly the entire city, and food and fresh water are running scarce, he said.

"They are using every every possible type of weapon," he said.

The Libyan government said Sunday that Gadhafi's son, Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, and three grandchildren died in the strike that destroyed the son's home in Tripoli. The Libyan government identified the children as Saif al-Arab's sons Gartaj Hannibal Muammar al-Gadhafi, age 3, and 2-year-old Saif Mohammad al-Gadhafi, as well as Mastoura Hamid Abuzitaia, the daughter of the leader's daughter Aysha.

The Libyan leader and his wife were in the house when it was targeted, but they are in good health, government spokesman Musa Ibrahim told journalists.

The building was in a residential area of Tripoli that houses several embassies. Ibrahim called the bombing a "war crime." The strike destroyed the two-bedroom, single-story house, leaving a massive crater where it used to be.

CNN could not independently confirm the reports, and NATO said in a statement Sunday that the alliance was "aware of unconfirmed media reports that some of Gadhafi's family members may have been killed."

"We regret all loss of life, especially the innocent civilians being harmed as a result of this ongoing conflict," said Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, commander of NATO's military operations. However, Bouchard said, all targets "are military in nature and have been clearly linked to the Gadhafi regime's systemic attacks on the Libyan population ... We do not target individuals."

But U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a leading supporter of the Libya campaign, called the elder Gadhafi a "murderer" and "a legitimate military target."

"He's not the legitimate leader of Libya, and the way to get this to end is to go after the people around him and his support system," Graham told "Fox News Sunday." The South Carolina Republican is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

In Benghazi, a hub for rebel forces and their transitional government, the news triggered celebratory gunfire even as a rebel spokesman dismissed the reported death as "a desperate attempt to get sympathy."

"In all honesty, we never heard of Saif al-Arab until the start of the uprising," said Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the Transitional National Council in Benghazi, on Sunday.

"We don't believe this is true ... This regime constantly lies and keeps lying," he added.

Opposition members, citing witness reports, also warned that pro-Gadhafi troops in the town of Zintan, 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Misrata, and other nearby areas have been equipped with gas masks. The opposition figures say that suggests the government forces are preparing to use chemical weapons against rebel forces -- but the accounts lacked detail, and CNN could not independently confirm the reports.

Ibrahim dismissed the allegations as "all lies."

"Every time they come with a lie, they jump out to the next lie," he said. "The media cannot report from one side of reports. It is the same lie when they said we are using cluster bombs."

Human Rights Watch reported in mid-April that pro-Gadhafi troops were firing cluster munitions into Misrata and displayed a portion of a Spanish-made mortar shell that releases 21 smaller bombs across a wide area. The Libyan government denies the allegation.

Fighting also intensified Sunday near the rebel-held Djerba border crossing into Tunisia, witnesses and Tunisia's state news agency reported. The TAP news agency said the flow of refugees out of Libya had slowed, possibly as a result.

NATO began bombarding Libya on March 19, after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution authorizing any means necessary to protect civilians demanding the end of Gadhafi's nearly 42-year rule. The alliance said it targeted a "command-and-control building" in Tripoli on Saturday, as well as hitting seven ammunition depots around the capital.

According to a NATO military official, the airstrike that Libya says killed Gadhafi's son involved four precision-targeted bombs, one of which failed to detonate. The official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the alliance was certain the target was a command-and-control facility and said the building hit, although above ground, had reinforced portions.

The official said NATO had "no evidence" that Gadhafi's relatives had been killed.

A photograph of the site showed the unexploded bomb, a 2,000-pound weapon designed to penetrate reinforced concrete, but NATO would not confirm what other types of ordnance may have been dropped. Nor would it disclose which nation's aircraft carried out the strike, or what type of aircraft were used.

Libyan officials attacked the U.S. Embassy compound in Tripoli Sunday, as well as the British, French and Italian missions, according to a senior U.S. official in Washington. All four NATO nations are taking part in the airstrikes.

Italian officials told CNN that the embassy of Qatar, a Gulf Arab state that supports the campaign and is supplying arms to the rebels, was also targeted.

The U.S. official said Turkey, the protecting power for U.S. interests in Libya, is trying to keep an eye on the American compound -- but "there isn't much they can do when you have an organized mob, as this appeared to be."

In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague expelled Libya's ambassador to the United Kingdom after the attacks. Hague said the Tripoli government is breaching its international obligation to protect diplomatic missions by allowing the vandalism.

"The attacks against diplomatic missions will not weaken our resolve to protect the civilian population in Libya," Hague said.

Ibrahim told CNN the attacks happened because "the people were upset" and that Libyan security forces stopped the attacks and prevented the embassies from being destroyed.

"There are embassies that have not been touched," he said.

In addition, eight U.N. international staffers are leaving Libya, the world body announced Sunday. Spokeswoman Eri Kaneko said the United Nations would not identify the staffers or their agencies for safety reasons.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen, Richard Roth, Barbara Starr, Elise Labott, Richard Allen Greene and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

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