Clashes erupt in Libyan capital after air chief backs rogue general
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Explosions and fighting erupted in Libya's capital on Wednesday, killing at least two people after the top air commander signalled support for a renegade general who is campaigning to dissolve parliament and wipe out Islamists.
It was not immediately clear who started the clashes, but government figures and Islamist groups in parliament - some of them with allied militias - have become increasingly alarmed by signs of growing support for General Khalifa Haftar. Forces loyal to him stormed parliament on Sunday.
Western powers fear Haftar's bid to persuade army units to join his campaign will split the military and trigger more turmoil in the oil producer which is struggling to restore order three years after the fall of strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Tripoli residents reported several loud explosions early on Wednesday near the al-Yarmouk air defence barracks after air defence top commander Juma al-Abani released a video message saying he was joining "Operation Dignity" - Haftar's campaign against Islamists.
Heavy fighting involving anti-aircraft machine guns mounted on trucks also broke out overnight near an army camp in Tajoura, an eastern suburb, witnesses said. The city was quiet by dawn.
At least two people from Mali died in the fighting, a health ministry source said.
Compounding the political chaos, state news agency LANA said on Wednesday the interior ministry had also joined Haftar's campaign - a report that was dismissed minutes later by the acting interior minister.
Libya has been plunged into turmoil since its 2011 uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi's one-man rule.
Many have grown frustrated with both the government and parliament's failure to contain Islamist fighters and other militias and commanders who took part in rebellion, and who have since openly defied the authorities to demand more oil wealth and power.
Haftar, a former Gaddafi ally who split with the autocrat in the 1980s, is the latest player to emerge in Libya's network of ex-fighters vying for control over parts of the country. Western governments are concerned Libya's instability may worsen and spill over into its North African neighbours, who are still emerging from the political unrest following the 2011 "Arab Spring" revolts.
POLITICAL BATTLE
On Sunday, militiamen stormed the General National Congress (GNC), Libya's parliament, and fought for six hours with other armed groups on the airport road.
They claimed loyalty to Haftar - who had retired from the army - and called for the suspension on parliament in a bid, they said to rid Libya of hardline Islamist lawmakers.
Culture Minister Habib Lamin, an informal cabinet spokesman, told Reuters some deputies had asked the government to arm the Islamist militant group Ansar Sharia to confront Haftar. "The government rejected this," he said and, underlining tensions between government and parliament, accused deputies of having contributed to the chaos by approving militia funding in the past.
"Most support for militias came from parliament," he added.
The parliament is split between Islamist parties loosely allied to the Muslim Brotherhood, the anti-Islamist National Forces Alliance, and scores of independents and tribal leaders of varying allegiances.
In a political battle over who controls the OPEC producer, Libya's government on Wednesday stepped up pressure on parliament to suspend work until parliamentary elections are held in June. The cabinet wrote to local councils urging them to support its calls for a suspension, which government figures have said it necessary because the public has lost confidence in the assembly.
In a further sign of unrest, gunmen abducted three Chinese engineers from their construction site in the eastern city of Benghazi on Tuesday, according to China's official press agency, Xinhua.
One was later found shot and died in hospital while his two colleagues were released, Xinhua reported.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami, Feras Bosalum and Ulf Laessing; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Patrick Markey, Andrew Heavens)