Libyan army troops and armed residents clashed with Islamic fighters in the eastern port of Benghazi on Wednesday, killing at least 13 people, a day after a renegade former general who backs the army vowed to retake the city from the militants.
Libya’s second-largest city is caught up in a chaotic struggle for control between an alliance of Islamic militia groups and the army, which is backed by forces loyal to former general Khalifa Haftar.
Gunfire could be heard in several districts from early morning, residents said. At least nine soldiers were killed and two wounded, and four civilians were found dead on a street, a toll likely to rise, hospital medics said.
Fighters from one militant group, Ansar al-Sharia, attacked the camp of an army tank battalion, one of the last bases still controlled by government forces since militants drove army special force units out of Benghazi months ago.
Later war planes, belonging to forces allied to Haftar, could be heard bombing suspected Islamist positions, residents said. On Tuesday, Haftar had promised to “liberate” Benghazi.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni and Haftar’s spokesman Mohamed El Hejazi said the army had seized the Feb. 17 camp belonging to the “Majlis al-Shura” forces, an umbrella group of Islamic militias.
“The Majlis al-Shura forces are fleeing from the military confrontation,” Thinni told United Arab Emirates-based Sky News Arabia TV channel. “The Benghazi area is now safe.”
It was impossible to verify the statement immediately, but a Reuters reporter could hear gunfire in the area of the camp, suggesting that a battle was not yet over. Ahmad al-Mismari, spokesman for Libya’s chief of staff, said there was still fighting because some militants had not surrendered despite the army controlling the camp.
Three years after the fall of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, the plight of Benghazi illustrates the central government’s inability to control rival armed factions that once fought Qaddafi and now battle over post-war spoils.
Libya’s neighbors and Western powers fear that the OPEC member is heading for full-blown civil war as the weak government is unable to challenge brigades of heavily armed former rebels who now defy the state’s authority.
The UN has started negotiations to bring an end to the fighting among the various factions, but some hardliners have so far refused the idea of any talks.
Among the rival forces in Benghazi are Haftar, a former Qaddafi ally, and Ansar al-Sharia, the extremist group Washington blames for the 2012 attack on its consulate in Benghazi, in which the US ambassador was killed.
Benghazi activists called on Wednesday for street protests against the militias, including Ansar al-Sharia.
In some parts of Benghazi, armed young people were fighting Islamist forces, who have set up checkpoints in the city and operate at will in those areas. Locals stormed a restaurant and other businesses, accusing the owners of funding Ansar al-Sharia.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not