Tripoli airport clash: Death toll rises to 20

Tripoli [Libya], Jan. 16 (ANI): The death toll in Tripoli airport clash has risen to 20.

According to the local media reports, the director of Tripoli hospital Abdeldayem Al-Rabti confirming the death toll said, around 37 were injured.

The local media quoted an anonymous security source as saying that the airport had come under attack when the government forces had clashed with rival forces, loyal to 'salvation government' after the latter made a bid to capture the airport.

"The criminal militia is known as Bashir al-Baqarah and all the criminals wanted by the Deterrent Force attacked the International Airport after escaping (jail) and joining the militia," the Special Deterrent Force (SDF) in charge of securing the airport said in a statement on its official Facebook page.

"The attackers are being dealt with until they are defeated and expelled from the Mitiga airport and the prison, where more than 2,500 inmates are detained on various charges", added the SDF.

The operations at the airport have been shut down due to the ongoing clashes.

Libya has been plagued with insecurity, violence and political chaos, since the fall of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011 in a coup. (ANI)