Libyan airspace closed following clashes

Egypt on Monday cancelled all flights to Libya, saying Libyan authorities had closed the country's airspace, the Associated Press reported.
Earlier on Monday, unidentified war planes flew over the Libyan capital of Tripoli and explosions were heard, Reuters reported residents saying.
A Libyan TV channel said planes targeted positions in Tripoli where militias have been fighting for control for over one month. Government officials could not be reached for comment in the middle of the night.

Tripoli residents said they could hear several explosions but said the cause was unclear. The city was quiet afterwards.

Militias from the city of Misrata and fighters allied to the western town of Zintan on Sunday again traded gunfire in parts of Tripoli, part of growing chaos in the oil producing nation three years after the ousting of Muammar Qaddafi.

None of the militias is believed to own war planes, while the weak government has no functioning national army and almost no control over Tripoli. Most officials work from Tobruk in the far-east where the new parliament has set-up to escape the violence.
In a related development, Ahmed Hadiya, the spokesman for Fajr Libya militia, said six people were killed late Sunday following rockets launched from the Wittiya air base west of Tripoli.

Last Update: Monday, 18 August 2014 KSA 15:43 - GMT 12:43 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/08/18/Unidentified-war-planes-explosions-heard-in-Libyan-capital.html

18/8/14

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