TRIPOLI — Warplanes from Libya's internationally recognized government on Thursday attacked the only functioning commercial airport in Tripoli, the capital controlled by a rival administration, officials said. The attack on Matiga airport, a military base used for commercial flights after the main airport closed following heavy fighting there last summer, damaged the runway but repairs should be finished later in the day, an airport spokesman said. The bombing extended a series of tit-for-tat attacks between the rival governments and parliaments battling for control of the large North African country and its oil resources four years after rebels ousted veteran autocrat Muammar Gaddafi. The recognized Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni and the elected parliament have been confined to eastern Libya since an armed faction seized Tripoli last summer, reinstating the previous assembly and setting up a rival administration. “Fighting jets conducted air strikes on Matiga airport early today which damaged the runway,” said airport spokesman Abdulsalam Buamoud. No one was hurt. Mohamed El Hejazi, a spokesman of forces allied to Thinni, claimed responsibility for the attack. “The strike is part of a war against terrorism that will continue until Libya has been freed of terrorism,” he said. — Reuters
