UPDATE - Haftar militia shells Tripoli's Mitiga airport, 6 dead

UPDATES WITH DEATH TOLL, DETAILS, REVISES HEADLINE, LEDE

By Enes Canli

TRIPOLI (AA) - At least six civilians were killed in rocket attacks by warlord Khalifa Haftar's militia on the Mitiga International Airport in the capital Tripoli, the Libyan government said on Saturday.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that a total of six people were killed and many others injured due to the rocket attacks.

The statement added that two passenger planes were heavily damaged, while a cargo plane and a passenger plane belonging to a private company were burned.

In an earlier statement, the government-led Operation Volcano of Rage said Haftar's forces fired several rounds of rockets at residential neighborhoods in the vicinity of Mitiga airport.

Saturday's attacks came hours after the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) condemned the indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Tripoli, saying the attacks "may amount to war crimes."

Haftar, the leader of illegal armed forces in eastern Libya, intensified attacks on civilians since the beginning of May as the Libyan government army recently gained the advantage and inflicted severe losses on his militants.

The government has been under attack by Haftar's forces since April 2019, with more than 1,000 killed in the violence. It launched Operation Peace Storm on March 26 to counter attacks on the capital.

Following the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya's government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led political deal.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar