KABUL: (Middle East Press) Terrorist attack and violence erupted in eastern city of Benghaz killing at least 13 members of Libya’s soldiers on Tuesday, an army spokesman said.
“Most of the soldiers were killed by landmines planted by terrorist organisations,” spokesman Miloud al-Zawi told LANA, the official news agency of the internationally recognised government.
The agency said the army soldiers were killed during conflicts in different parts of Benghazi, where their army units were seeking to make gains against militants.
Zawi said that 16 soldiers died in all, but only named 13 that were killed on Tuesday. However, it was unclear when or how the other three died.
He added that battles will continue and will not stop until the areas controlled by the terrorist groups are liberated.
Al-Zawi also noted that the army forces “made advances and secured a major victory” in the conflict areas.
Zawi did not elaborate on which areas or bases were being targeted, or which groups the army was fighting.
Libya has been struggling for stability since 2011, when the country’s former dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, was overthrown and armed groups as well as regional factions engaged in a conflict.
Libya has had two administrations since August 2014, when a militia alliance overran the capital and set up its own parliament in Tripoli while forcing the internationally recognised government to take refuge in Tobruk, in the east.
The UN has been brokering talks to create a new unity government to end fighting between the army and the militias that seized Tripoli, with the new UN envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler, voicing hope that an agreement is imminent.
