Smoke rises over the Airport Road area after heavy fighting between rival militias broke out near the airport in Tripoli yesterday.

AFP/Tripoli

The Libyan government warned yesterday of the possibility of a break-up of the country if clashes between rival militias for control of Tripoli airport went on.

Calling for an end to 13 days of conflict around the airport, the interim government warned of “the collapse of the country” and “the destruction which could result from ... endless war”.

The warning came as fresh clashes broke out between rival Libyan militias battling for control of Tripoli airport, the target of 13 days of shelling that have disrupted air links to the outside world.

Columns of smoke billowed into the sky around the airport perimeter, while loud explosions were heard throughout the morning.

Libya’s main international airport has been shut since fighting erupted on July 13, a bout of violence that has killed at least 47 people and wounded 120, according to the health ministry.

The clashes, the most violent since the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, started with an assault on the airport by a coalition of groups, mainly Islamists, which has since been backed by fighters from third city Misrata.

The attackers are battling to flush out fellow former rebels from the hill town of Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, who have controlled the airport for the past three years.

Both Zintan and Misrata were major bastions of the Nato-backed uprising against Gaddafi, and regional as well as ideological battles have fuelled a struggle for power ever since.

The UN Security Council on Wednesday condemned the fighting as “unacceptable”, saying it “must not be used to pursue political goals”.

The unrest in Tripoli has forced banks and petrol garages to shut, paralysing the capital as power cuts grow more frequent.

The price of fuel on the black market has reached 120 dinars ($97) for 20 litres, compared with an advertised rate of just three dinars.

*Rebels have kidnapped a Maltese worker on the outskirts of Tripoli, Malta’s foreign office said yesterday.

“I can confirm that we have been informed about the abduction. That is all I can say for now,” a spokesman for the Foreign Office in Valletta said.

The kidnapped man was later named by another source as Martin Galea, 40, a health and safety professional who worked for an oil and gas company.

Libyan militia snatched him on July 17 as he was on his way to work and he is now being held in the west of the troubled country, the source said.

Various attempts to contact Galea via the Libyan foreign ministry have failed, the source said.

Diplomats in Tripoli say militias often carry out kidnappings to blackmail countries into releasing Libyans they hold.

Previous abductions this year saw a Tunisian diplomat and an embassy staffer kidnapped, as well as the Jordanian ambassador in a separate incident.