Fighting at Tripoli airport, gunmen surround planes
Mon Jun 4, 2012 7:44pm GMT
* Flights cancelled, diverted after gunmen occupy airport
* Militiamen seek release of leader
* Weak government unable to assert control, elections loom (Updates with
calm restored, details, quotes)
By Ali Shuaib and Hadeel Al Shalchi
TRIPOLI, June 4 (Reuters) - Clashes broke out between rival Libyan militias
at Tripoli's international airport on Monday after angry gunmen drove armed
pickup trucks on to the tarmac and surrounded planes, forcing the airport to
cancel flights.
In a fresh challenge to the interim government's weak authority, members of
the al-Awfea Brigade occupied the airport for several hours demanding the
release of their leader whom they said was being held by Tripoli's security
forces.
Brigades of former fighters said they had restored calm at the airport by
Monday evening. The groups, who have joined the interior ministry since last
year's war but are still loyal to their own commanders, said they had acted
of their own accord. One brigade leader said 10 people were injured in the
clashes but did not give details.
Weeks before a planned election, Libya's new rulers are struggling to assert
their control over an array of former fighters who still refuse to lay down
their arms after last year's war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.
Several international flights were cancelled, and in some cases passengers
who had already boarded planes got off and left the airport. Some flights
were diverted to Tripoli's military airport Mitiga, airport workers said.
One Italian passenger who was due to fly out and later arrived at a Tripoli
hotel described the situation as chaotic.
"There were about 200 of them who came into the airport, they were armed. We
were waiting to board our flight and we could hear noises, people shouting,"
he said.
Violence later broke out when militia groups from Tripoli and the mountain
town of Zintan arrived at the airport to try to get the al-Awfea Brigade to
leave, a Reuters reporter said.
He said gunfire could be heard and men were entering the airport carrying
rocket-propelled grenades. The gunfire later died down and vehicles marked
with the Interior Ministry logo were seen entering the airport.
MEN DETAINED
Hisham Buhagir, who heads a Tripoli brigade which comes under the interior
ministry, said 50 to 60 vehicles carrying men from Awfea brigade had earlier
arrived at the airport. He said they had been briefly detained and later
released when they handed over their weapons.
"We negotiated with them and promised them we would find their leader within
three days and they were convinced," he said. "We confiscated their arms and
drafted a list of their names."
Buhagir said the various brigades had not received government orders. "There
was no direct (government) order to intervene today, there was just a
conscientious feeling that Tripoli was in trouble," he said.
A member of the Awfea Brigade told Reuters that they believed their leader,
Colonel Abu Oegeila al-Hebshi, was being detained in the airport after being
held by the Tripoli Security Committee on Sunday night.
"We are protesting his kidnapping by coming to this airport," Anas Amara
said. "We have one tank outside the airport and our cars are surrounding the
airplanes so they don't fly."
The militia is from the town of Tarhouna, 80 km (50 miles) southeast of
Tripoli.
The ruling National Transitional Council spokesman, Mohammed al-Harizy, said
Hebshi was taken by unknown armed rebels while travelling between Tarhouna
and Tripoli on Sunday night.
Monday's violence is the latest in a series of violent incidents as the
North African country prepares for its first free polls for a national
assembly since last year's war.
Disgruntled former fighters have held regular protests, at times violent.
Last month, one person was killed and several were wounded when militiamen
protesting outside the prime minister's office started shooting.
In November, about 100 Libyans surrounded a Tunisian passenger aircraft at
Tripoli's Mitiga airport, delaying its takeoff in an anti-government
protest.
The Libyan government took control of Tripoli international airport in April
from the Zintan militia which had run it since Gaddafi was deposed. Several
international airlines have resumed flights, although security concerns have
lingered since the end of the conflict last year. (Additional reporting by
Marie-Louise Gumuchian and Ayman Al-Sahli; Writing by Hadeel Al-Shalchi and
Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
C Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
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Received on Mon Jun 04 2012 - 17:58:54 EDT
