Tripoli Airport Is Now a Battleground in Libya

 By 
Amanda Wills
 on 
Tripoli Airport Is Now a Battleground in Libya
A burnt airplane at Tripoli international airport in the Libyan capital on Monday. Credit: Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

More than 40 people have been killed over the past week in Libya as rival militias fight for control of the country's largest airport in Tripoli, the capital.

The clashes began last week when Islamist-led militias from the city of Misrata launched a surprise attack on the airport, which had been under control of rival militias from the town of Zintan.

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The two militias fighting at the airport are from different cities in Libya: Misrata (to the east) and Zintan (to the southwest). They are denoted with white and black circles. Credit:

The weeklong battle is one of the worst spurts of violence the country has seen since the ouster of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. According to Libya's Health Ministry, 47 people have been killed and 120 others injured.

The Libyan government released footage on Monday that shows the destruction at Tripoli International Airport.

The airport, which has been closed since last Monday, is now riddled with bullet holes, and pieces of the ceiling are scattered throughout the building. Outside, what's left of a $113 million Airbus A330 -- a passenger jet for Libya's state-owned Afriqiyah Airways -- sits on the tarmac.

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A burnt airplane at the Tripoli airport on Monday. Credit: Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

"This was the pride of the Libyan fleet," Abdelkader Mohammed Ahmed, Libya's transportation minister, told journalists at the airport. "This airplane used to fly to South Africa, Bangladesh and China."

Several videos of the violence have also been uploaded to a Facebook page associated with the Zintan militia group. One of the videos posted on Sunday, embedded below, shows militia members outside the airport (according to the description).

(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));

Post by ‎خالد الزنتانى‎.

After a two-day cease-fire broke down on Sunday, rocket fire could be heard across the capital as dark plumes of smoke rose from the airport area, according to the Libya Herald.

Qaser ben Ghasher now #Libya pic.twitter.com/aXZ2XW9gCQ— Maha Haman (@Mmm_hmn) July 13, 2014

The Tripoli International Airport serves an estimated 3 million passengers per year with 13 airlines that fly to London and major African and Middle Eastern cities, including Cairo, Amman, Dubai and Tunis.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press

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