A militia shelled Tripoli airport, destroying 90 percent of planes parked there, a Libyan government spokesman said, as heavy fighting between armed groups prompted the United Nations to pull its staff out of the North African country, according to The Associated Press.
At least 15 people have been killed in clashes in Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi since Sunday, and a Libyan official said several Grad rockets hit the Tripoli International Airport on Monday, damaging the control tower, the AP reported.
Government spokesman Ahmed Lamine said "the government has studied the possibility to bring international forces to enhance security," on Tuesday, according to the AP.
Seven people were killed in Tripoli on Sunday in the worst fighting for six months in the capital, where rival militias have been fighting for control of the airport, the AP reported. Security and medical sources said at least six people had been killed and 25 wounded in Benghazi in heavy fighting between security forces and rival militias since late Sunday.
The U.N. mission in Libya said the closure of Tripoli airport and the deteriorating security situation made it impossible for it to operate, according to the AP. Tripoli residents said a Grad rocket struck the airport perimeter late on Monday.
In Benghazi, irregular forces loyal to renegade former general Khalifa Haftar bombarded Islamist militia bases as part of his campaign to oust militants. Special forces clashed with militia fighters in the city, the AP reported.
Most of the dead and wounded were civilians, according to security and medical sources at Benghazi hospital, according to the AP. At least 10 houses were hit with missiles, and government offices and banks were forced to close.
Misrata city airport was also closed on Monday, and Benghazi airport has been closed since May, leaving only two small airports in the south and a land route to Tunisia as the country's only gateways to the outside world, a flashback to the 1990s when Libya was under U.N. sanctions, the AP reported.
