Libya rebel forces attack airport, diplomatic areas
RISING TENSIONS Italy and Turkey say shells hit near their embassies in Tripoli
TUNIS: Jet fuel tanks at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport were targeted in an attack on Saturday that caused a large fire, Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC) said.
Mitiga is the last functioning airport in the Libyan capital, though civilian flights stopped in March because of repeated shelling even before the country imposed a lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.
The NOC statement gave no details of the attack but said firemen were working to bring the blaze under control. Video shared by an airport worker showed plumes of black smoke billowing over the apron.
The eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) of Khalifa Haftar has been fighting for more than a year to capture Tripoli, seat of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), with frequent shelling of the capital.
PRO-GNA forces have retaken some territory from the LNA during an escalation of fighting in recent weeks with the help of
Turkish-supplied drones.
Shells also landed near the Turkish and Italian embassies in central Tripoli late on Thursday.
Turkish military support for GNA has helped its forces push the LNA back from several areas in recent weeks, threatening to end Haftar’s campaign in western
Libya. The Turkish ambassador said a Grad missile had struck the High Court building next to the embassy and another landed by the Foreign Ministry. Italy’s foreign ministry said on Twitter the area near around the Italian ambassador’s residence was hit, causing at least two deaths.
KARACHI: At least six security personnel, including an Army major, were killed when a roadside bomb struck a patrol vehicle in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province near the Iran border.
The Army said a vehicle of paramilitary Frontier Corps was targeted through a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) in Kech district’s Buleda area, about 14 km from the Iran border. “A major and five soldiers were killed while one soldier was injured,” it said in a statement.
No one took responsibility but Baloch militants often target the security forces in the province.
Security sources said the route where the explosion took place was monitored round the clock because of suspected movement by smugglers and insurgents in the border area.
A s e arch operati on was launched by the security forces in the area to trace the elements involved in the attack. It is the first major attack on the forces in Balochistan since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country.