BENGHAZI: Heavy clashes erupted between a former general’s forces and Islamist fighters in the eastern city of Benghazi yesterday, military officials said, one of several conflicts raging in Libya in the worst violence since Muammar Gaddafi fell in 2011.
Armed Islamists are trying to prize Benghazi’s civilian and military airport from the control of government troops allied to Gaddafi-era general Khalifa Haftar. In response, Haftar’s forces used helicopters to bomb camps of suspected Islamist militants, military sources said.
Haftar, who was once accused by the post-revolution government of trying to stage a coup against it, has declared war on several Islamist factions and teamed up with government forces in Benghazi. Three people were killed and three others wounded in clashes between the two sides throughout most of the day in a suburb of the port city, hospital medical staff said.
REUTERS
