Updated | Air Malta cancels Tripoli flights as airport surrounded by Libyan militia

Air Malta will be cancelling its service to Tripoli International Airport as from Tuesday 5 June, after gunmen from a Libyan militia  surrounded Tripoli's international airport to secure the release of one of their leaders whom they believed had been kidnapped and held there.

Air Malta will be offering its passengers booked on its Tripoli flight tomorrow the facility to be rebooked on the airline's services KM698/9 to Benghazi on Tuesday or on Thursday's flight at no extra costs.

"In view of the fact that Tripoli International Airport may remain closed until Wednesday 6th June, Air Malta will not re-book passengers onto its Wednesday flights. Air Malta will continue to monitor the situation and keep the public informed of any developments," the airline said in a statement.

The action by the al-Awfea Brigade militia forced flights to be diverted to the capital's military airport.

The incident is the latest in a series of events that highlighted the inability of the weak central government to assert its authority on a myriad of armed militias that have refused to give up their weapons after the popular revolution which ousted Muammar Gaddafi last August.

Last month, one person was killed and several wounded when militiamen protesting against the Libyan prime minister started shooting. A Defence Ministry official said the militia at the airport had driven their armoured vehicles onto the runway and surrounded planes.

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 taken by the Tripoli Security Committee on Sunday night for reasons he did not know.

"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."

The militia is from the town of Tarhouna, 80 km southeast of Tripoli.

Incoming planes are being diverted to Tripoli's Mitiga Airport.

The ruling National Transitional Council spokesman, Mohammed al-Harizy, said Hebshi was taken by unknown armed rebels while travelling between Tarhouna and Tripoli last night.