TRIPOLI // Militants attacked Tripoli’s airport on Friday and killed three security personnel, a Libyan official said, in an assault claimed by ISIL.
“An armed group carried out an attack this morning on the prison located on the Mitiga airbase, to try to free the detainees,” the airport security official said.
Eight attackers also died in the assault, the security official said.
An AFP journalist who was at the airport at the time heard an explosion followed by gunfire.
ISIL later claimed the attack on Twitter.
Flights were unaffected by the incident at what is the only airport still functioning in the militia-held city.
Mitiga is a military airfield used for civilian traffic after Tripoli’s international airport was seriously damaged last year in fighting for control of the capital.
ISIL militants in June took over the coastal city of Sirte, 450 kilometres to the east of Tripoli.
Over the past few months, they have claimed several attacks in the Libyan capital, mostly against embassies.
* Agence France-Presse
