Tunisian troops clash with Gaddafi forces

The border crossing currently flies the pro-Gaddafi flag, but fight over the strategic checkpoint has raged on overnight and continues to remain heated.

Intense shooting is taking place in central Dehiba on Friday with one boy shot in the foot and a woman killed both by pro-Gaddafi forces' shelling and gunfire, according to uncorroborated witness accounts.

Tunisian forces are trying to stop further advancement by Gaddafi forces, who have crossed into Tunisia to target rebels and their families in Dehiba, Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from the Tunisian side of the border area, said. 

Today’s violence broke out when rebels continued their battle from a day earlier "with fierce ferocity", to regain control of access to the Tunisian town that is crucial for the rebels' refueling and resupply.

Tunisian authorities had so-far taken a "very hands-off" approach toward the Libyan clashes, in an effort to be fair to both sides, but now "the battle has actually come to them", McNaught said.

Tunisian military and police left the border post on Thursday, drawing anger from Dehiba residents to return and protect the town, she said. On Friday Tunisian authorities captured seven vehicles belonging to Gaddafi forces.

Rebels had taken the crossing a week ago, but on Thursday pro-Gaddafi forces attempted to retake it.

They were initially successful, pushing opposition forces to retreat to the Tunisian side of the border, leaving the entire frontier in the hands of pro-Gaddafi forces.

The crossing, near the western mountains, has been a main route of escape for Libyan nationals fleeing the conflict since the rebels claimed control on April 21.

Prior to then, residents of the western mountains area had been forced to take long and difficult roads around the crossing in order to seek shelter or medical help in Tunisia.

Controlling the crossing also gave the rebels better access to aid and supplies to continue their fight against Gaddafi forces in western Libya.

Government forces closed in on rebel outposts on Thursday, showering the western mountain city of Zintan with missiles and attacking rebels holed up near the border, according to rebel sources.

Gaddafi denies his forces are attacking civilians and describes his opponents as Islamist extremists and foreign-backed agitators who deliberately put non-combatants in harm's way.

Fresh attacks on Misurata

Separately also today, at least 12 people were killed in Misurata when pro-Gaddafi forces shelled their homes amid rage against rebels for control of the city's airport. The casualties included two women.

Libyan rebels have fought for the airport, after pushing back government forces from the embattled city's sea port as the oil-rich country's tribes urged Gaddafi to relinquish power.

Rebels in Libya's third-largest city said they were confident victory was "very close" for them in the strategic port city as a UN panel arrived in Libya to investigate violence and human rights abuses.

"Our freedom fighters have managed to defeat the soldiers of Gaddafi" by forcing them out of Misurata, Khalid Azwawi, head of the local transition committee, said late on Wednesday.

"They managed to force them to leave, but not very far. That's why Gaddafi is trying to bomb the port," he said.