Fighting rages in west Libya towns

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BENGHAZI, Mar18 (agencies): Fighting between insurgents and forces loyal to strongman Muammar Gaddafi raged Friday in the rebel-held towns of Zintan, Nalut and Misrata in western Libya, witnesses and rebel sources said. Gaddafi forces attacked Zintan, 120 kilometres (75 miles) southwest of Tripoli, late Thursday "and there were violent clashes with the rebels," a resident, reached by telephone, told AFP. "The fighting was continuing Friday morning. There are casualties on both sides," he added. In Nalut, a town of 66,000 people, 235 kilometres (145 miles) west of Tripoli, rebels attacked loyalist positions through the night "and seized all their arms and ammunition," a rebel fighter said. "We took many of Gaddafi's soldiers prisoner," he added. East of the capital, fighting also raged in the rebel-held bastion of Misrata Friday after a night of heavy gunfire, a rebel spokesman said. "Dozens of bombs of all sorts have fallen on the city since last night," the spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that the bombing was "still intense." State television said late Thursday that Gaddafi loyalists had overrun Misrata, 210 kilometres (130 miles) from the capital, but that was denied by a rebel spokesman in the city. Meanwhile:Libya has shut down its air space to all traffic until further notice, Europe's air traffic agency said Friday, hours after the UN approved air strikes against the regime. Eurocontrol, citing information from Maltese authorities, said in a brief statement on its website that Tripoli "does not accept traffic UFN (until further notice)." Meanwhile: Any indiscriminate attack on civilians in Benghazi would constitute "war crimes", the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned the Libyan government Friday. "Any indiscriminate attack against civilians would constitute war crimes," prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told journalists in The Hague.