Rockets were fired at an eastern Libyan airfield used by an anti-militant general, but fell short, the facility’s manager said on Saturday, adding that there were no casualties or damage.
Unknown assailants fired four rockets at the international airport just outside Labraq, from which Libyan General Khalifa Haftar’s forces launch raids against militant Muslim positions in the east.
The airport, which has civilian and military terminals, has been targeted repeatedly in recent months.
Labraq is about 65km west of the Muslim extremist stronghold of Derna, which was hit on Monday last week by Egyptian and Libyan warplanes.
The raids were in retaliation for the beheading of 21 Coptic Christians by local extremists affiliated with the Islamic State group.
The town also lies roughly half that distance west of al-Qubbah, where militants launched suicide bombings on Friday in response to the Derna attacks, killing 44 people and wounding 37, the Libyan health ministry said on Saturday.
A previous toll had put the number of dead at 40, but four more succumbed to their injuries in the hours following the attack, the ministry said.
Labraq is one of the few airports still operating in the North African country, after both the Tripoli and Benghazi facilities were put out of action in clashes.
Libya, which has been roiled by turmoil since the NATO-backed ouster of dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, is awash with weapons and rival militias battling to control its cities and oil wealth.
It has two rival governments and parliaments, one recognized by the international community and the other with ties to Muslim extremists.
With the capital in the hands of Muslim militias, the recognized government has taken refuge in al-Bayda, just a few kilometers west of Labraq.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in