A Líbia que a NATO criou

TRIPOLI, June 4 (Reuters) - Clashes broke out between rival Libyan militias at Tripoli's international airport on Monday after angry gunmen drove armed pickup trucks on to the tarmac and surrounded planes, forcing the airport to cancel flights. In a fresh challenge to the interim government's weak authority, members of the al-Awfea Brigade occupied the airport for several hours demanding the release of their leader whom they said was being held by Tripoli's security forces. Brigades of former fighters said they had restored calm at the airport by Monday evening. The groups, who have joined the interior ministry since last year's war but are still loyal to their own commanders, said they had acted of their own accord. One brigade leader said 10 people were injured in the clashes but did not give details. Weeks before a planned election, Libya's new rulers are struggling to assert their control over an array of former fighters who still refuse to lay down their arms after last year's war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi. Several international flights were cancelled, and in some cases passengers who had already boarded planes got off and left the airport. Some flights were diverted to Tripoli's military airport Mitiga, airport workers said. One Italian passenger who was due to fly out and later arrived at a Tripoli hotel described the situation as chaotic. "There were about 200 of them who came into the airport, they were armed. We were waiting to board our flight and we could hear noises, people shouting," he said. Violence later broke out when militia groups from Tripoli and the mountain town of Zintan arrived at the airport to try to get the al-Awfea Brigade to leave, a Reuters reporter said. He said gunfire could be heard and men were entering the airport carrying rocket-propelled grenades. The gunfire later died down and vehicles marked with the Interior Ministry logo were seen entering the airport. MEN DETAINED Hisham Buhagir, who heads a Tripoli brigade which comes under the interior ministry, said 50 to 60 vehicles carrying men from Awfea brigade had earlier arrived at the airport. He said they had been briefly detained and later released when they handed over their weapons. "We negotiated with them and promised them we would find their leader within three days and they were convinced," he said. "We confiscated their arms and drafted a list of their names." Buhagir said the various brigades had not received government orders. "There was no direct (government) order to intervene today, there was just a conscientious feeling that Tripoli was in trouble," he said. A member of the Awfea Brigade told Reuters that they believed their leader, Colonel Abu Oegeila al-Hebshi, was being detained in the airport after being held by the Tripoli Security Committee on Sunday night. "We are protesting his kidnapping by coming to this airport," Anas Amara said. "We have one tank outside the airport and our cars are surrounding the airplanes so they don't fly."