Violence kills at least 11 in Libya´s Benghazi

BENGHAZI: Violence, including a suicide attack at a security checkpoint, killed at least 11 people Wednesday in the flashpoint Libyan city of Benghazi, officials said.


The latest bloodshed brings to 110 the death toll in Benghazi since former general Khalifa Haftar launched on an assault last week supported by the army against Islamist fighters who seized the eastern city in July.

The Benghazi Medical Centre said it received seven bodies Wednesday, while a hospital source said four more were transported to other hospitals in the region.

In the morning, a suicide attacker set off his bomb-laden car at a checkpoint manned by pro-government forces in the Dariana region, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Benghazi, killing one person and wounding four.

Meanwhile, witnesses said a column of tanks and armoured vehicles from army units based in Al-Baida, 200 kilometres east of Benghazi, had entered the city Wednesday night.

And air forces loyal to Haftar carried out attacks on militias, including a roadblock at the western entrance to the city set up by Islamist group Ansar Al-Sharia and a weapons depot.