Eurasia Press & News
Troops loyal to Libya’s internationally backed government launched a new offensive to seize the extremist-held city of Benghazi, as witnesses saw corpses on the streets Sunday and ambulances racing by.
Information over what was happening in Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, remained unclear, though a medical official at al-Jalaa hospital, one of only two working hospitals in the city, said at least 10 people had been killed since Friday.
Benghazi has been held by the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries, an umbrella group for the city’s hard-line militias. Those militias include Ansar al-Shariah, which the US blames for the September 2012 attack on the US Consulate there that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Last year, renegade General Khalifa Hifter led a unilateral offensive against the Benghazi militias. On 15 October, Hifter formally joined ranks with Libya’s elected government. Since then, they say they have managed to take control of most of the city.
An official with the special forces of the elected government said their campaign began early on Saturday. He said air forces backed up the ground troops.
He also said two men in his unit had been killed. He, as well as the hospital official, spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak to journalists.
The widespread militia violence has plunged Libya into chaos less than four years after a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
