Forces apparently loyal to a renegade Libyan
general said they had attacked parliament and
suspended its activities, directly challenging
the legitimacy of the country's central
government.
A commander in Libya's military police on
Sunday read a statement on behalf of a group
led by General Khalifa Hifter announcing the
suspension.
Hifter is a one-time rebel commander who
said the US backed his efforts to topple
Muammar Gaddafi in the 1990s. He says his
group is taking on some of Libya's most
hardline groups, and blames the government
for not doing more to tackle them.
Hours before the parliamentary suspension,
members of an armed group backed by truck-
mounted anti-aircraft guns, mortars and rocket
fire attacked parliament, sending politicians
fleeing for their lives as gunmen ransacked the
legislature.
MPs were evacuated from the building in
southern Tripoli as heavy gunfire erupted after
a convoy of armoured vehicles entered the city
from the airport road and headed for the GNC.
The attack reportedly killed two people
and wounded more than 50.
Early on Monday, the violence escalated as
unknown attackers fired rockets at Benina
airport in Libya's second-largest city of
Benghazi. Authorities had closed the airport on
Friday for security reasons.
Libya has been struggling with chaos as its
government, parliament and nascent armed
forces are unable to impose their authority
over brigades of former rebels and militias
who helped oust Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy
the state.
General Mokhtar Farnana, speaking on a
Libyan television channel on behalf of Hifter's
group, said it had assigned a 60-member
constituents assembly to take over for
parliament.
Farnana said Libya's current government would
act on as an emergency Cabinet, without
elaborating.
Farnana, who is in charge of prisons operated
by the military police, said forces loyal to
Hifter carried out Sunday's attack on
parliament.
He also said the attack on parliament was not
a coup, but "fighting by the people's choice".
"We announce to the world that the country
can't be a breeding ground or an incubator for
terrorism," said Farnana, who wore a military
uniform and was seated in front of Libya's flag.
Early on Monday morning, Libya's interim
government condemned the attack on
parliament and largely ignored the declaration
by the general's group.
"The government condemns the expression of
political opinion through the use of armed
force," Salah al-Marghani, the justice minister,
said in a statement.
"It calls for an immediate end of the use [of]
the military arsenal… and calls on all sides to
resort to dialogue and reconciliation."
'Extremists'
The attack came after an assault on Friday by
Hifter's forces on hard-line religious armed
groups in the restive eastern city of Benghazi
that authorities said killed 70 people.
On Sunday, gunmen targeted Islamist
politicians and officials Hifter blames for
allowing "extremists" to hold the country at
ransom, his spokesman Mohammed al-Hegazi
told Libyan television station al-Ahrar.
Officials believe members of the al-Qaaqaa and
Sawaaq militias, the largest in the capital,
backed Hifter even though they operate under
a government mandate. Al-Qaaqaa posted a
statement on its official Facebook page saying
it attacked parliament with Sawaaq because
politicians supported "terrorism".
Parliamentary head Nouri Abu Sahmein earlier
told Libyan television station al-Nabaa that
parliament would convene on Tuesday.
