TRIPOLI, Libya — A day of militia battles over control of the international airport in Libya’s capital killed 22 people, the country’s interim government said Sunday, part of the worsening chaos gripping the country.
Libya is seeing its worst violence since the 2011 civil war that toppled dictator Moammar Khadafy, as militias made up of the rebels who overthrew him dominate much of the country, armed with heavy weaponry that outguns the country’s poorly organized security forces.
Saturday’s deaths brought the toll after weeks of fighting for control of Tripoli’s international airport, as well as Libya’s second-largest city of Benghazi, to 236 people.
Islamist militias from the coastal city of Misrata have led the assault on the airport, seeking to seize it from militiamen from the mountain town of Zintan. Militia shelling has set fire to at least eight huge oil depots, sending plumes of smoke over Tripoli, Libya’s state-run news agency reported Sunday.
The violence across Libya has prompted the closure of several foreign missions and the withdrawal of diplomats. On Saturday, a Greek naval frigate evacuated embassy staff and nearly 200 people from Greece, China, and other countries. Thousands of others have fled to neighboring Tunisia.
On Sunday, a British royal navy ship helped about 100 British nationals including embassy staff evacuate.
Libya’s newly elected Parliament met for the first time in Tobruk this past weekend.