Libyan militias threaten parliament, deploy forces in Tripoli

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Two heavily armed Libyan militias demanded on Tuesday the country's parliament hand over power immediately in what the head of the assembly dismissed as an attempted coup that would be contested by the army if necessary.

Tuesday's deadline of five hours from the statement issued by the al-Sawaiq and al-Qaqa militia brigades passed without incident but they said they had troops on standby to force the hand of the General National Congress (GNC).