Bomb explodes on runway of Libya's main airport in Tripoli
Mar 22 Yahoo News
A bomb exploded on the runway of Libya's main airport on Friday, the
transport minister said, highlighting the deteriorating security
situation in the north African country almost three years after Muammar
Gaddafi was ousted. Supposedly one of the best guarded places in Libya,
unknown people managed to get onto the runway at Tripoli International
Airport, plant an explosive device at dawn and detonate it using a
timer, Transport Minister Abdelqader Mohammed Ahmed said.
Authorities closed the airport, the gateway into Libya, for several
hours. There is little traffic after midnight as foreign airlines avoid
late flights due to the poor security at night in the capital, where the
government is unable to control militias which helped oust long-time
leader Gaddafi in 2011 but have kept their guns.ÓThere was a small
explosion,” Ahmed said. “When security and the airport protection force
arrived they found a timer.” Officials had first suspected rockets fired
by militias had landed on the runway as gunfire could be heard during
the night in the capital. Rival militias often fight over territory or
influence in Tripoli or the rest of the country.
Authorities reopened the airport by using first an alternative
runway.
Mainly Libyan airlines restarted operations in the afternoon.We
cancelled all flights,” said the country head of a foreign airline with
several daily flights to Tripoli.
European carriers such as Lufthansa and British Airways fly to
Tripoli apart from Arab carriers.Ahmed said authorities would improve
airport security but analysts say the nascent police and army, still in
training, are no match for battle-hardened militias seizing at will oil
fields or ministries to grab power and oil revenues.
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