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 militants in the same area, he said.
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