Renegade Libyan general’s troops attack parliament

TRIPOLI: Militias apparently backing a renegade Libyan general attacked the country’s parliament Sunday, kidnapping some 20 lawmakers and officials in an assault that threatened to further splinter a country dominated by the armed groups that overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi three years ago.

A spokesman for the Gen. Khalifa Hifter, a one-time rebel commander who said the U.S. backed his efforts topple Gadhafi in the 1990s, said the forces acted under his command.

Backed by truck-mounted anti-aircraft guns, mortars and rocket fire, the gunmen sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives as they ransacked the legislature. Heavy gunfire rang out into the night in Libya´s capital, Tripoli, panicking residents as mortar rounds landed in their neighborhoods.

The attack, which hospital officials said killed one person and wounded nine, came after an assault Friday by Hifter´s forces on militias in the restive eastern city of Benghazi that authorities said killed 70 people.

On Sunday, gunmen targeted the lawmakers and officials Hifter blames for allowing extremists to hold the country ransom, his spokesman Mohammed al-Hegazi told Libya´s al-Ahrar television station. (AP)