News / North Africa

Bombing, clashes leave 6 people dead in NW Libya

Wednesday, 13 April 2016 6:23 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 13 April 2016 6:22 PM ]

Members of the Special Deterrence Force inspect cars at a checkpoint in Tripoli, Libya, on March 7, 2016. ©Reuters

A total of six people have lost their lives in a bombing as well as clashes between security forces and militants in Libya’s northwest.

Aziz Issa, head of the media office at Misrata's central hospital, said a car bomb went off at a checkpoint, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the Libyan port city.

The bombing left a member of the security forces in Libya dead and four others wounded, he added.

No individual or militant group has yet claimed responsibility for the incident, but the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has carried out several attacks on checkpoints on the coastal road south of Misrata, which leads toward the group’s stronghold in the city of Sirte.

The photo released on February 18, 2015 shows purported Daesh terrorists parading in a street in Sirte, Libya. ©AFP

Meanwhile, an unnamed security source said militants raided a military camp early on Wednesday near the town of Bani Walid, southeast of Misrata, and seized weapons and ammunition.

Two members of the security forces lost their lives in the clashes along with three camp workers who had been beheaded, according to an unidentified official from Bani Walid's town council.

Libya has been dominated by violence since a NATO military intervention followed the 2011 uprising that led to the toppling and killing of longtime dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.

The oil-rich state has had two rival administrations since mid-2014, when militants overran the capital and forced the parliament to flee to the country’s remote east.

The two administrations reached agreement on a unity government last December, and the new government received endorsement by the United Nations. However, it has had difficulty taking over.

Taking advantage of the political chaos, Daesh took control of Sirte in June 2015, almost four months after it announced its presence in the city, and made it the first city to be ruled by the militant group outside of Iraq and Syria.

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