LIBYA: Gunfire and explosions are heard at the al-Yarmouk air defence barracks in Tripoli as the Libyan capital sees some of the fiercest fighting between rival armed groups since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Record ID: 376370

  • Title: LIBYA: Gunfire and explosions are heard at the al-Yarmouk air defence barracks in Tripoli as the Libyan capital sees some of the fiercest fighting between rival armed groups since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
  • Date: 23rd July 2014
  • Summary: RESENDING WITH FULL SCRIPT TRIPOLI, LIBYA (JULY 23, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SMOKE RISING FROM AL-YARMOUK AIR DEFENCE BARRACKS WITH AUDIO OF EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE SMOKE RISING ABOVE BUILDINGS WITH AUDIO OF THREE BLASTS SMOKE RISING BEHIND BUILDINGS VARIOUS OF PILES OF CHARRED METAL ON GROUND PILE OF CHARRED METAL WITH TRUCK IN BACKGROUND
  • Embargoed: 7th August 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVAEPTZW4F4XMX4KZQ3NHTO8B7TP
  • Story Text: There was audible gunfire around the al-Yarmouk air defence barracks, in Libya's capital Tripoli, on Wednesday (July 23) over heavy black smoke.
    Rival militias are clashing over the Libyan capital's largest military base, in the Salaheddin district of the capital.
    A Libyan government Health Ministry spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday that they had not been able to access the base because of the continued fighting.
    The clashes over al-Yarmouk come amidst a deepening of national divisions between two increasingly polarised factions whose battle is shaping the future of Libya's transition since the 2011 revolution ended four decades of Muammar Gaddafi's one-man rule.
    More than 40 people have been killed in some of the worst violence in the capital since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, as rival brigades of former fighters battle with rockets and mortars for control of key of the city.
    Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi have faced days of heavy street fighting among armed brigades and militias who once battled Gaddafi and now want to claim what they see as their rightful share of power in post-war Libya.
    There was also fighting around Tripoli's airport on Wednesday and the United Nations pulled out its staff from Libya as a result.
    Most international flights have stopped and more than a dozen damaged planes are now parked at the airport.
    And a fuel storage tank that supplies Tripoli was hit in clashes on Wednesday.
    On Tuesday, a twin suicide bombing at a Libyan army base in Benghazi killed at least four solders, in an escalation of clashes between Islamist militants and regular forces battling to oust them from the eastern city.
    Libya's fragile government, with no strong standing army of its own and hamstrung by political infighting, is struggling to impose order on the vast North African OPEC oil producer whose turmoil threatens to spill over its borders.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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