Activities at Maatigua airport in Tripoli suspended after bombings
Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - Air navigation was suspended on Monday at Maatigua International Airport, an eastern suburb of Tripoli, after being the target of air strikes by fighter jets under the Libyan National Army, led by Marshal Khalifa Hafter, the airport management announced in a statement.
"Air strikes carried out by a fighter jet on Monday targeted the Maatigua airport in Tripoli, the only one providing air transport in the capital'', said the same source.
Air traffic has been suspended as well as flights from the airport until further notice, a source at the airport said, adding that passengers were evacuated from the airport after the bombing.
Six flights were scheduled from the airport on Monday, but the source said much of the runway was damaged.
Armed clashes resumed on Monday morning near the Tripoli international airport, in the region of Gasr Ben Ghachir, south of Tripoli, on the fifth day of the offensive of the Libyan National Army forces against the city.
Heavy weapons and automatic assault rifles were used in clashes on Monday between Libyan armed forces and Union Government forces, while conflicting reports bring clashes between the two warring factions at Tripoli airport and the city of al-Aziziya, south of the capital, where clashes continue, which have left 32 dead and 50 wounded on the side of the forces loyal to the government of national unity, while those of the Libyan National Army have lost 14 combatants, a total of 46 dead and 50 wounded in both camps.
Army forces of the national unity government on Sunday announced the launch of a military operation, dubbed "Volcano of Wrath", a counter-offensive against the Libyan National Army's interim government.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced, in a report Monday, that 2,200 people have been displaced by clashes in Tripoli, to the south of the city since April 4, adding that many civilians were stranded and could not access emergency services.
UNSMIL requested the belligerents to observe a two-hour humanitarian truce on Sunday to enable the Libyan Emergency Services and Red Cross Society to evacuate the wounded and those trapped in the fighting zones located in Wadi Rabi, Gasr Ben Gashir and al-Aziziya in Tripoli.
But this call was not adhered to and no truce was observed to allow the evacuation of civilians and the wounded.
-0- PANA BY/BEH/KND/VAO 8April2019
