PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Libya: 9 killed, 15 injured in armed clashes in eastern Libya
Benghazi, Libya (PANA) – Nine people have been killed and 15 others injured in fierce fighting on Saturday between Libyan army units and radical Islamist militias in the locality of Aïn Mara, near the eastern city of Derna, which has been held by Jihadists since the fall of the Mouammar Kaddafi regime in 2011.
The dead comprised five soldiers and four members of the Council of Derna Jihadists, a coalition of armed groups belonging to Islamist radical groups, several of which have vowed allegiance to Daesh (Islamic State), according to a member of the coalition quoted by the Libyan media.
The fighting broke out at Aïn Mara, about 27 kilometers west of Derna, between Libyan army units which want to retake control of Derna from the Islamist militias, which have made of the city the stronghold of terrorist organizations, including Daach and Ansar Ashria.
In another development, the spokesperson for the national army command, Colonel Ahmed al-Mesmari, said that the air force on Friday carried out raids on a camp in the city of Misrata, 220 km east of Tripoli.
Colonel al-Mesmari on Saturday said that the "air raids targeted military vehicles and warehouses stocking arms”.
He said that the planes targeted Ben Jawad, in the region of the Libyan Oil Crescent, a coalition of fighters that includes Islamists, killing 26 fighters, including 4 military chiefs, and injuring 40 others, according to military sources at the hospital of Ibn Sina in Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli.
-0- PANA BY/JSG/SOC/MSA/MA 10Jan2015
The dead comprised five soldiers and four members of the Council of Derna Jihadists, a coalition of armed groups belonging to Islamist radical groups, several of which have vowed allegiance to Daesh (Islamic State), according to a member of the coalition quoted by the Libyan media.
The fighting broke out at Aïn Mara, about 27 kilometers west of Derna, between Libyan army units which want to retake control of Derna from the Islamist militias, which have made of the city the stronghold of terrorist organizations, including Daach and Ansar Ashria.
In another development, the spokesperson for the national army command, Colonel Ahmed al-Mesmari, said that the air force on Friday carried out raids on a camp in the city of Misrata, 220 km east of Tripoli.
Colonel al-Mesmari on Saturday said that the "air raids targeted military vehicles and warehouses stocking arms”.
He said that the planes targeted Ben Jawad, in the region of the Libyan Oil Crescent, a coalition of fighters that includes Islamists, killing 26 fighters, including 4 military chiefs, and injuring 40 others, according to military sources at the hospital of Ibn Sina in Sirte, 450 km east of Tripoli.
-0- PANA BY/JSG/SOC/MSA/MA 10Jan2015
