Tripoli airport back in our control, says Libyan government

• Chris Stephen in Tripoli
• guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 June 2012 13.27 EDT

Armed militias stormed Tripoli international airport on Monday in a protest against the reported kidnapping of their leader. The militias, from Tarhuna, 40 miles south of Tripoli, captured the airport, firing shots as their vehicles careered across the runway in front of planes waiting to take off, forcing international flights to be diverted to the capital's military airport.

The attack on the airport, which was apparently unguarded, has raised fresh questions about the government's grip on security, coming a month after another militia occupied the office of the prime minister, Abdurrahim el-Keib, and little more than two weeks before planned national elections.

The government said on Monday night it had retaken control of the airport. In an interview with al-Jazeera, the head of the country's National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, said the airport was attacked and held for several hours. He vowed it would not fall out of government control again.

"The attack on the airport is dangerous, but we dealt with it as a government, military and revolutionaries with intelligence," he said.

One witness, Adem Saleh, a Libyan oil worker, was on a bus being taken across the airport apron to board a flight to Benghazi when the militia struck.

"There was a government official in the bus behind me, he was talking on his mobile phone with someone about a militia who were angry. And he was saying: 'They can't come into the airport now, the negotiations are still going on,'" he told the Guardian. "I didn't know what he was talking about. Then out of the window I saw these Jeeps with guys with guns race across the runway."

He watched as the militia's vehicles swarmed around planes parked on the apron, and saw one unit dismount and confront the Libyan ground crew of an Alitalia plane. "They walked up to these guys, I could see they were shouting. Then they opened fire. I don't know if they shot the ground crew or they were firing near them, but I saw two guys, ground crew, later who were wounded."

Jalil said the militia were angry over the arrest of their commander, Abu Oegeila al-Hebeishi, on Sunday. The NTC said that by late afternoon the militia had agreed to surrender the airport after a promise from Jalil that the missing commander would be found.

The government's inability to secure key installations has left many Libyans rattled. "They cannot open the airport now, no way," said Saleh. "Its not safe."

Tripoli airport is no stranger to conflict: in December it was closed after machine-gun fire arced over the runway as the army tried to capture the airport from a militia from Zintan that had occupied it. The Zintan militia surrendered control of the airport in April, but a strike last month forced it to close for a day.

The attack will cause anxiety among international airlines which must now decide whether the government can guarantee security for what promises to be a turbulent time leading up to the elections.

British Airways resumed flights to Tripoli in May after suspending them when the Libyan revolution began in February last year.

Some airlines continue importing their own aviation fuel, or ensure jets land with enough fuel for the return journey, amid concerns that supplies in Libya may be contaminated.

The government's elite force, the Supreme Security Committee, whose forces remained deployed with machine-gun mounted jeeps near the airport on Monday night are in the spotlight after claims from the health ministry that they kidnapped and tortured a prominent heart surgeon last month.

The latest skirmish comes with the NTC facing fighting and upheavals across the country, hampering efforts to hold national elections on 19 June.

The southern towns of Sabbha and Kufra remain tense after inter-tribal battles, and engagements west of Tripoli last month saw the border crossing with Tunisia closed.

Meanwhile, the cities of Zintan and Misrata, home to the most powerful militia armies, which bore the brunt of last year's fighting, have become virtual fortresses, electing their own city councils and resisting attempts by NTC forces to impose their authority.