5 wounded in clashes in Libyan capital

Two militiamen from Zintan and three members of the Libyan national army were wounded in clashes on Saturday evening on a road leading to the airport in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, a local military source said. The firefight occurred between the members of the Second Infantry Brigade of the Libyan national army and a group of fighters belonging to a brigade from Zintan, some 130 km southwest of Tripoli, after the latter refused to leave Tripoli International Airport, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The brigade from Zintan, which last month captured and is now holding Seif al-Islam, the second son of deceased former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, is currently controlling the capital's airport. Local media reported that the two sides had exchanged fire earlier in the day after some fighters from the Zintan brigade attacked a fleet of cars, including one carrying Major General Khalifa Hfter, a commander of the Libyan army forces, that were heading for the airport. The clashes have stopped by now, and the airport highway which was once blocked is reopened, the source said.