tripoli, libya 22 killed in clashes over airport
Associated Press
TRIPOLI, Libya
A day of militia fighting over control of the international airport in Libya’s capital killed 22 people, the country’s interim government said Sunday, part of the worsening chaos gripping the country.
Libya is seeing its worst violence since the 2011 civil war that toppled dictator Moammar Gadhafi, as militias made up of the rebels who overthrew him largely run wild in the country, armed with heavy weaponry that outguns its poorly organized security forces.
Saturday’s deaths bring the death toll after weeks of fighting for control of Tripoli’s international airport, as well as Libya’s second-largest city of Benghazi, to 236 people.
Islamist militias from the coastal city of Misrata have led the assault on the airport, seeking to seize it from militiamen from the mountain town of Zintan. Militia shelling has set fire to at least eight huge oil depots, sending plumes of black smoke over Tripoli, Libya’s state-run news agency reported Sunday.
The fighting came as more than three-quarters of Libya’s newly elected parliament met for the first time in Tobruk, a city near the Egyptian border chosen for the meeting by a prominent anti-Islamist politician, signaling a swing against Islamist parties and extremist militias.
Days before the lawmakers convened, Islamist militias overran several army bases and took control of the eastern city of Benghazi, the cradle of the 2011 revolt. Their advance dealt a major blow to forces loyal to a renegade general who has vowed to drive extremist militias out after months of violence.