Maltese nationals in Libya have asked to be evacuated as military clashes between militias in Tripoli intensify, government sources said.
Libya’s UN-backed government declared a state of emergency on Sunday as militias from a city to the south of Tripoli attacked southern areas of the densely populated capital. 
The Ministry of Health of Libya reported on Monday that about 47 people, including civilians, had died in the rival militia clashes in Tripoli over the past week, with dozens more injured.
The sources in the Maltese government said efforts are under way to sort out logistics for a possible evacuation of about 25 Maltese nationals based in Tripoli and western Libya. 
“As you can appreciate, this is a delicate matter and the situation is quite complex at the moment. What we can say is that efforts are being made to see what can be done,” a senior government source told the Times of Malta.
The Libyan authorities closed Tripoli airport last week after rockets were fired in that direction.
Hundreds of people – Maltese and foreign – were evacuated to Malta from Libya in 2011 at the height of the uprising that toppled long-term leader Muammar Gaddafi. The evacuations were…