Updated | Britons evacuated to Malta from Libya

20 UK nationals brought to Malta from Libya before catching a commercial flight to their home country.

The evacuees were brought to Malta on an Air Libya flight (Photo: Ray Attard)
The evacuees were brought to Malta on an Air Libya flight (Photo: Ray Attard)

A group of UK nationals was brought to Malta from Libya in an evacuation operation that follows fresh fights in Tripoli’s main airport. The group arrived late on Saturday afternoon.

The “urgent evacuation”, as described by informed sources, will see the arrival of 20 UK nationals who will then catch commercial flights to their home country from Malta’s International Airport.

The evacuees departed from the Mitiga military airport just outside Tripoli on-board a D8 plane.

Sources did not rule out the possibility of further evacuation operations in the coming hours.

Meanwhile, a Buraq Air plane that was hit in the Tripoli violence was brought to Malta for repairing. The arrival of further Buraq Air planes is not excluded.

Friday’s clashes broke out just hours after the mayor of Tripoli announced that the rival militias had agreed to observe a truce and that control of the airport would be handed over to neutral forces.

Gunfire and blasts were also heard in Abu Slim neighborhood, just south of the airport, an AFP correspondent said, while residents said the battles pitched rival militias against each other.

The renewed violence also came hours after Foreign Minister Mohammad Abdel-Aziz asked the United Nations for help to build up Libya’s army and police to protect vital sites such as the airport.