TRIPOLI, Libya: At least one person was killed in an overnight gun battle between a former prisoner and ex-rebel fighters in the Libyan capital, a hospital official and local residents said on Monday.

"A man was killed and five others were wounded, including one who is now in a coma," an official at Tripoli's central hospital said.

The clash in the Fashlum district broke out late on Sunday as former rebels tried to arrest a man charged with murder who was released by the former regime at the start of last year's uprising, witnesses said.

They said the ex-prisoner and his brother took shelter in their home, resisting arrest with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons. Both men and a former rebel died in the gunbattle, local residents said.

After another episode of lawlessness in the Libyan capital where weapons are rife, calm had returned to the area by Monday morning, said an AFP photographer, who saw the walls of the home riddled with bullet holes.