Libya: Twelve dead, 91 injured in Benghazi violence

Benghazi, Libya (PANA) – Friday's clashes in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi between armed Islamist groups and troops loyal to former Libyan General Khalifa Haftar have claimed 12 lives.

Ninety-one other people were injured as Haftar carried out "operations against the terrorists", hospital sources said.

”The death toll in the armed clashes which broke out on Friday morning in a suburb of Benghazi is estimated at 12 dead and 91 injured," said Dr Awadh al-Koueiri of the al-Jala hospital in Benghazi quoted by the Libyan news agency (LANA).

It said that the victims were admitted at the al-Jala hospital as well as al-Marj, al-Abiar, Sloug and Jardina hospitals, with various degrees of injuries.

An uneasy calm prevailed in the city on Friday afternoon after the clashes and the withdrawal of the troops of General Hafter, who is the leader of ex-rebels units.

Sources say the government has denounced the attack against the Islamist group as a coup against the legitimacy and the 17 February revolution and called for sanity to prevail.
-0- PANA BY/BEH/MSA/MA 16May2014