SAD,7 soldiers killed in Benghazi bombs, clashes.
Benghazi - Seven Libyan soldiers were killed and 50 wounded in a
double suicide bombing and clashes in the eastern city of Benghazi on
Thursday, an army commander said.
Libya is being racked by
violence as the armed groups which helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011
turn their guns on each other in a struggle to dominate politics and
the country's vast oil resources.
In Benghazi, special army forces
allied to brigades of former general Khalifa Haftar have been fighting
Islamist brigades including Ansar al-Sharia, blamed by Washington for an
attack on the US consulate in September 2012 in which the US ambassador
was killed.
Two cars loaded with explosives drove into an army
checkpoint near Benghazi's civilian and military airport, killing three
soldiers, Wanis Bukhamada, commander of army special forces in Benghazi,
told Reuters.
Four soldiers were killed in clashes with Islamist militants in the same area, he said.
Failed state
"The
Majlis al-Shoura forces suffered big losses," Bukhamada said, referring
to a group of Islamists which has been trying to take the airport for
weeks.
The Islamists have already overrun army bases in the port city, making the airport one of the last large government bases.
The
clashes were continuing at noon, while air strikes could be heard. No
more details were immediately available but Haftar's forces have used
helicopters and war planes against the Islamists.
Western powers
worry Libya will become a failed state as a weak central government
cannot control the competing armed groups in a country awash with arms.
The
elected parliament has relocated to the remote eastern city of Tobruk
after effectively losing control of the capital Tripoli, where an
alliance of armed groups rules after expelling a rival force.
The
new forces controlling Tripoli, led by brigades from the western city of
Misrata, have helped install an alternative parliament and prime
minister.
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