Libya's spy chief kidnapped

Libya's deputy intelligence chief was kidnapped outside the Tripoli airport on Sunday, two security sources said, days after clashes between rival militias and protesters in the capital killed at least 45 people.

Mustafa Noah, the head of agency's espionage unit, was pulled into a vehicle in a parking garage, the security sources said.

The kidnapping comes at a time of increasing unrest in Libya. The government is struggling to keep order as rival militias and hard-line Islamists refuse to disarm two years after they helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.

No group claimed responsibility for the abduction, but militias have snatched officials in the past to get political leverage.

Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was abducted by a government-payrolled militia group last month, but freed unharmed after a few hours.

Tripoli city leaders on Sunday called for street protests and strikes at shops, schools and universities to press Libya's government to drive out militiamen blamed for the clashes.

Violence broke out on Friday when militiamen from the coastal city of Misrata opened fire on protesters marching on their brigade quarters in Tripoli to demand they leave the capital.

Dozens of people were killed in the fighting that followed — the deadliest street violence in Tripoli since Gaddafi's fall.

Misrata gunmen and rival militias clashed again on Saturday to the east of the capital, killing one more.

The clashes prompted Libyan officials to declare a 48-hour state of emergency in Tripoli.

Al Jazeera and wire services