CAIRO — The Islamist-backed faction in Libya’s civil conflict said Tuesday that it had carried out its first airstrike, targeting opponents in the town of Zintan in an escalation of the violence tearing the country apart.
The attack occurred two days after the Islamic State, the extremist group also known as ISIS or ISIL, released a video showing fighters for one of its Libyan branches beheading as many as 21 Egyptian Christians. In retaliation, Egypt carried out an airstrike on Monday against a town in eastern Libya that is a hub of Islamist militancy and the home of another Islamic State branch.
The extent of the damage was unclear. But the attack on Tuesday raised the possibility of an air war between the rival Libyan factions and diminished hopes for United Nations-sponsored talks about ending the conflict.
“This may well upend the U.N.’s mediation efforts,” said Wolfram Lacher, a Libya researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
Word of the bombing on Tuesday came as Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, visited the United Nations in New York, intending to push for a Security Council measure to strengthen what he called the “legitimate government of Libya.” That government has moved to two towns near the border with Egypt because the conflict has left its Islamist-backed opponents, who call themselves Libya Dawn, in control of Tripoli. The Security Council plans to meet Wednesday and discuss the Libya crisis.
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A statement from the airport authority in Zintan said a warplane had bombed the airport around noon, just as a civilian flight was preparing to take off.
The attack “created panic among the passengers and families” and forced the cancellation of the flight, the statement said. It asked Libya’s internationally recognized government to condemn “this terrorist crime” and to “ensure accountability for those who carried it out so that it is not repeated again.”
Merna Thomas contributed reporting from Cairo, and Somini Sengupta from the United Nations.
A version of this article appears in print on February 18, 2015, on page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: Islamist Faction in Libya Now Strikes From the Sky. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
