22 KILLED IN DAY OF CLASHES OVER LIBYAN AIRPORT
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 organised 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. Miltia 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 transitional government said “several hundred” families had been displaced and there was a “worsening humanitarian situation” in Tripoli. MORE EVACUATIONS The exodus of foreigners from Libya gathered pace Sunday as the government warned of a “worsening humanitarian situation”.
Thousands of Egyptians seeking to flee the strife-torn North African country were being airlifted home after being allowed into neighbouring Tunisia, many after a wait of several days at a border crossing.
Meanwhile, a British navy ship was evacuating Britons from Tripoli, the defence ministry in London said.