TRIPOLI, Libya — Another high-ranking Libyan official has defected and fled the country amid a widening NATO campaign of bombings as well as leafletting and other psychological warfare to persuade Moammar Gadhafi’s troops to stop fighting.

Shukri Ghanem, the Libyan oil minister and head of the National Oil Co., crossed into neighboring Tunisia by road on Monday, according to a Tunisian security official and Abdel Moneim al-Houni, a former Libyan Arab League representative who was among the first wave of Libyan diplomats to defect.

The defections suggest Gadhafi’s political structure is fraying, but it’s unclear whether there is enough internal strife to seriously undermine his ability to fight rebel forces as NATO airstrike pound Libyan military targets. Gadhafi appears to retain the backing of his core of military commanders.

Still, support for Gadhafi seems to be waning in the capital, Tripoli. Pro-regime demonstrations are sparsely attended, even when heavily advertised in advance.

And rebel forces have reported some gains in recent days. In Misrata, the main battleground in western Libya, opposition fighters claim they have driven back government troops from key access points and tried to push pro-Gadhafi gunners out of rocket range for the city.

NATO said today it would step up psychological warfare operations to try to persuade troops loyal to Gadhafi to abandon the fight.

Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken, speaking in Naples, Italy, said NATO planes have been dropping leaflets and broadcasting messages to Libyan forces urging them “to return to their barracks and homes.”

Bracken said the messages also have advised pro-regime troops “to move away from any military equipment” that could be targeted by NATO’s strike aircraft.

He did not provide further details on the psychological operations. But the U.S. has been using a specially modified air force C-130 transport to broadcast messages to Libyan forces in AM, FM, high-frequency radio, TV and military communications bands.

NATO is operating under a U.N. Security Council mandate to maintain a no-fly zone and to take other actions to protect civilians from attack by Gadhafi’s forces. In recent days, NATO attacks have concentrated on military and logistics hubs in Tripoli.

On Monday night, British aircraft bombed the intelligence agency building in the capital as well as a training base for bodyguards protecting members of Gadhafi’s regime, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defense.

Maj. Gen. John Lorimer said the targets were “at the heart of the apparatus used by the regime to brutalize the civilian population.”

One of the buildings hit overnight was used by the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for internal security. Another building belonging to an anti-corruption commission was also bombed. Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim suggested that the ministry was targeted because it contained files on corruption cases against senior members of the Benghazi-based rebel leadership.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said today that fighting in Misrata and other cities is denying medical aid to civilians and causing casualties among health personnel. It cited reports by the Libyan Red Crescent that three of its ambulances were hit over the past four days. A nurse was killed and a patient and three volunteers were wounded, it said.

Gadhafi, who has ruled Libya for more than 40 years, has been using his military and militias to try to put down an uprising that began in February. The protests are aimed at ousting him from power.

Although Gadhafi appears from time to time on state-run television and radio, his whereabouts are a mystery.

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