Britain bombing Libyan oil field: Libyan official

Libya`s deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim accused Britain of bombing an oil field at Al-Sarir in the southeast of the country on Wednesday.

"British fighter bombers raided the Al-Sarir oil field, killing three guards at the site and wounding other people working at the field," Kaim said at a news conference.

The air raid damaged the site and notably the pipeline linking Al-Sarir and the port of Tobruk that is under rebel control, he added.

A tanker left Tobruk on Wednesday carrying the first consignment of oil since the rebel government won recognition from some countries.

It had docked a day earlier in order to load the consignment of Libyan crude worth up to 100 million dollars for export, the first since the international coalition air strikes began on March 19 and destined to finance the rebel fight against leader Moamer Kadhafi`s forces.

Two consignments had already left the port between the end of February and mid-March, according to Fethi Faraj, a local rebel official.

But this was the first for which the rebels had taken full responsibility, from extraction right up to delivery and it was not simply a question of filling previous orders.

Source: ANTARA