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| Fires rage at Libyan oil ports after Islamic State attacks |
Ali al-Hassi said the Petroleum Facilities Guards were still in control of the neighbouring ports of Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, where at least nine guards were killed and more than 40 injured near the ports' perimeters on Monday and Tuesday.
Hassi said guards had recovered bodies of 30 Islamic State fighters, and had captured two military tanks and other vehicles from the militants.
He also said the guards had received air support from forces loyal to the General National Congress (GNC), the government that has controlled Tripoli since its rival, which was internationally recognised, moved to Bayda in the east in 2014.
Firefighters were trying to control four fires at Es Sider and one at Ras Lanuf. Two were triggered by Islamic State shelling, and three more had caught fire, Hassi said.
Mohamed al-Manfi, an oil official in eastern Libya, said each of the oil tanks was estimated to contain 420,000 to 460,000 barrels of oil.
Es Sider and Ras Lanuf lie between the city of Sirte - about 200 km (125 miles) along the coast and controlled by Islamic State - and the eastern city of Benghazi. They have been closed for more than a year.
Libya is split between political factions and armed groups competing for power and for the country's oil wealth, four years after the revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Oil output has dwindled to less than one quarter of a 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day.
By Ayman al-Warfalli, BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters)
(Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Patrick Markey and Louise Ireland)
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