Tripoli -
Deadly clashes
raged on Sunday around Libya's main international airport, closing it down, as
the anti-Islamist militia that control it came under attack, airport officials
said.
The exchanges of
fire with heavy weapons killed at least six people and wounded 25, a health
ministry official said.
The assault on the
Zintan militia which controls the airport by Islamist militants came after the
UN pulled staff from Libya citing security reasons, and as Washington warned of
further escalation.
An airport
official said “rockets struck inside the airport perimeter around 6am (04h00
GMT)”, followed by heavy clashes between the rival gunmen.
Loud explosions
and heavy gunfire were heard in the city centre, 25km away, AFP correspondents
reported.
An airport source
said Zintan fighters pushed back the assailants but that clashes continued to
rage around the facility, as locals reported seeing tanks deploy and smoke
billowing.
The clashes later
scaled down to intermittent exchanges of automatic weapons fire, an AFP
correspondent said.
The authorities
said the airport would stay closed for at least three days.
Government spokesman
Ahmed Lamine, meanwhile, urged an “immediate and unconditional” ceasefire,
calling on both sides “to halt all hostile actions”.
The closure
prevented Libya's foreign minister, Mohamed Abdelaziz, from travelling to a
two-day meeting near Tunis of his counterparts in North Africa to consider how
to aid chaos-riddled Libya.
A foreign ministry
source said Libya would be represented by its ambassador to Tunisia, Mohamed
al-Maalul, at the closed-door meetings in Hammamet, a town south of Tunisia's
capital.
The former rebel
Zintan militia helped topple strongman Muammar Gaddafi in a 2011 Nato-backed
uprising, and is now well established in Tripoli, controlling the airport and
military sites.
The heavily armed
group, named after a hill town south-west of the capital, is considered the
armed wing of the liberal movement jockeying for power with Islamists who
dominate parliament.
Sunday's attack
was claimed by the Operations Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries, a coalition of
Islamist militias seen as the armed wing of Islamists within the General
National Congress (GNC) or parliament.
“The revolutionary
forces arrive within the perimeter of Tripoli airport and clash with armed
groups inside,” it said on its Facebook page.
Britain's Minister
for the Middle East Hugh Robertson in a statement urged an immediate end to the
fighting and called on all parties to engage in “meaningful dialogue”.
European Union
presidency holder Italy, meanwhile, called for United Nations-led diplomacy in
Libya to aid the democratic transition.
“There has not
been adequate support for transitions after regimes are toppled and we are
still paying the price,” Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini told the ANSA news
agency.
The fighting comes
weeks after a contested June 25 general election to replace the
Islamist-dominated GNC, which has been mired in controversy and accused of
hogging power.
Libya, awash with
weapons since the uprising three years ago, has also been plagued by growing
lawlessness, while on the political front rival cabinets are jostling for
power.
The embattled
Tripoli government has struggled to establish a strong army and police force,
allowing ex-rebels a free hand to act.
Sunday's clashes
came just hours after the United States warned that the conflict could become
“widespread” unless a new parliament is seated quickly and a new constitution
drafted.
“The United States
is deeply concerned by the ongoing violence in Libya and dangerous posturing
that could lead to widespread conflict there,” State Department spokeswoman Jen
Psaki said.
On July 6, Libya's
electoral commission scrapped the election results from 24 polling stations,
citing fraud, and said final results would be announced on July 20.
Commentators say
liberals will fill most seats in the new parliament, unlike in the former
assembly.
The mounting
violence prompted the United Nations Support Mission in Libya to announce on
Thursday that it was pulling out dozens of staff.
The well-armed and
disciplined Zintan militia, officially under the jurisdiction of the defence
ministry, has sided with rogue general Khalifa Haftar, who has launched a
deadly offensive in eastern Libya aimed at crushing Islamist militias. -
Sapa-AFP
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