Haftar forces battle extremists in Libya’s Benghazi

BENGHAZI, Libya — Forces loyal to Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who control large parts of eastern Libya, said on Thursday they were locked in fierce fighting with extremists in second city Benghazi.

Fighting was raging in Shaabiyat Al Tira area of Qafunda district, on the western edges of the coastal city, said Mohamad Al Jali, a spokesman for Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA).

An AFP correspondent in Benghazi said the clashes broke out at dawn and since then warplanes have been pounding extremist positions almost non-stop.

Haftar has managed to retake a large part of the eastern coastal city of Benghazi from extremists since it came under their control in 2014.

But the extremists still control Qafunda as well as the central districts of Al Saberi and Souq Al Hout.

On Monday, Haftar’s forces said they had routed the extremists from Abu Sneib neighbourhood in Qafunda, after two days of fierce fighting that killed nine LNA soldiers.

Six more LNA soldiers were killed in fighting also on Wednesday as Haftar’s forces pressed with a major offensive to push the extremists out of all of Benghazi, an LNA spokesman said.

It was not immediately clear if Thursday’s fighting caused casualties.

Around 60 soldiers have been killed in clashes in and around Benghazi since January 1, according to the LNA.

The spokesman said Haftar forces would suspend temporarily the fighting in Benghazi to give safe passage to three families trapped in the Qafunda area.

The extremist groups include the Revolutionary Shura Council of Benghazi, an alliance of Islamist militias that comprises the Al Qaeda-linked Ansar Al Sharia.

On Wednesday he visited a Russia aircraft carrier off the coast of Libya, in the latest sign of growing relations with Moscow.

 Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Muammar Qadhafi.

Libya has since fallen into chaos, with a UN-backed unity government failing to assert its authority over the country.

The parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk has refused to recognise the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord.

Haftar’s forces are aligned with the Tobruk administration.