4 Libyan soldiers killed, 22 injured in Benghazi clashes

Four Libyan soldiers were killed and 22 others injured during ongoing clashes with Daesh militants in Benghazi.

A military source said violent clashes erupted in Hawari.

The Libyan forces besieged some Daesh hotbeds in the district, the source added.

The army forces have made significant progress in the early morning hours today and took control of a large part of Hawari district.

Four airstrikes have targeted Islamist militants’ positions and more will be carried out soon, an army source said.

The militants have already overrun army bases in the port city, making Benina’s airport one of the last large government bases.

Libya plunged into violence after the toppling of dictator Moammar Qaddafi in 2011 as competing groups took up arms against each other to claim power in the oil-rich country.

In Benghazi, the special forces allied with renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar’s brigades to fight the rival Islamist militants including Ansar Shariah.

Washington has blamed Ansar Shariah for the attack on the U.S. consulate in September 2012 in which the U.S. ambassador was killed.

The capital Tripoli is under the control of militant Islamist groups, led by brigades from the western city of Misrata, forcing the elected and internationally recognized Libyan parliament to relocate to Tobruk.

With the presence of a weak central government challenged by a well-armed alternate parliament, and the absence of a strong national army, Western powers fear Libya could become a failed state.
Source: MENA