CAIRO (AP) – Heavy clashes between Libyan soldiers loyal to a renegade general and Islamist-led militias killed 38 people – including civilians – in the country’s restive east, health officials said Sunday, as fighting between rival militias around the capital’s international airport raged on.
Forces loyal to Gen. Khalifa Hifter battled militias in the eastern city of Benghazi in clashes that started Saturday and continued through early Sunday morning, a security official said. Commando forces regained control of four military camps captured by Islamist militias in the past few days, the official said. The fighting killed eight of the militias’ fighters including the brother of an alleged leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group, the official and a militia website statement said.
A statement published on the website of the powerful Islamist militia Rafallah Sahati confirmed the death of Ahmed al-Zahawi, brother of Mohammed al-Zahawi, the leader of Ansar al-Shariah. U.S. officials believe Ansar al-Shariah was behind the Sept. 11, 2012, attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
Rockets fired during the fighting hit civilian homes, causing casualties and wounding dozens of people, health officials said.
More than two months ago, when Hifter started his offensive to crush Islamist militias and their political backers, Mohammed al-Zahawi vowed to continue fighting, calling Hifter an “American agent.” Hifter, who once served as dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s top military official, later defected and spent years in the U.S., though U.S. officials have said they have not been in recent contact with him.