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Clashes in Libya’s Benghazi leave 14 dead, 53 injured

File photo of Libyan soldiers loyal to the country’s internationally recognized government at a checkpoint in the eastern city of Benghazi (© AFP)

At least 14 people have reportedly been killed in a fresh wave of fighting between militants and forces loyal to Libya’s internationally recognized government in the restive city of Benghazi.

According to Libyan sources, the clashes broke out on Wednesday morning in the center of Benghazi, the country’s second largest city, and subsided later in the day.

The Benghazi Medical Center announced Thursday on its Facebook page that 13 dead bodies as well as 50 wounded people were delivered there. This is while the city’s al-Jalaa hospital said it was struck by a rocket that left one individual dead and three others injured.

However, the report added that it was not immediately clear whether the casualties of the battles were civilians or militants.

Also on Wednesday, a senior military intelligence officer was killed in the city of Misrata when an explosive device concealed in his vehicle went off, the report added citing a Libyan security official.

The assassinated officer, identified as Taher Allush, was reportedly linked to Fajr Libya, a militia alliance that took over the Libyan capital of Tripoli in August 2014 and established a rival government and parliament there.

Benghazi has been reeling from more than a year of almost daily battles between pro-government forces and armed militant factions over the control of the major eastern city.

According to the Libya Body Count monitoring group, at least 1,700 people have been killed in the violence across the North African country since early 2014.

Libya currently has two parliaments and governments vying for power, one in Tripoli and the other, which is internationally recognized, in the eastern port city of Tobruk.

The North African state plunged into chaos following a popular revolution in 2011 that led to the ouster and eventual killing of its long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.


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