Libya: live report (AFP)

Welcome to AFP's live coverage of the events in Libya, as two US warships head towards the country on the 16th day of unrest.

Follow this live report for up-to-the-minute details of events as they unfold.

1020 GMT Here is a summary of the latest developments:

-- Two US warships carrying marines and equipment have entered the Suez Canal and are heading towards Libya, as the West flexes its military muscle.

-- The UN refugee agency has warned that the situation on the Libya-Tunisia border is reaching crisis point as desperate migrant workers flee for safety. More than 100,000 people have already left Libya to escape a vicious crackdown by Kadhafi loyalists which has left at least 1,000 dead, according to conservative UN estimates.

-- Western powers are arguing over imposing a proposed no-fly zone over Libya to support rebels fighting Kadhafi's regime.

-- Kadhafi opponents are beginning to organise the trappings of parallel government. Rebels in Benghazi said they had formed a military council in the eastern Libyan city, the hotbed of the uprising against Kadhafi's four-decade iron rule.

1030 GMT Several hundred pro-Kadhafi supporters -- some carrying Kalashnikov rifles -- have rallied near the site of a petrol tanker explosion near the compound of the Libyan leader in Tripoli, an AFP reporter said.

Flames were shooting up to four metres (12 feet) in the air after the tanker overturned and split open. The blast happened near a mosque and a hotel but there appeared to be no casualties, according to our correspondent on the ground.