43 killed, more than 100 wounded in Libya clashes

BENGHAZI, Libya: The death toll from clashes in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi has risen to 43 from 19 and more than 100 people had been wounded, a Health Ministry official said on Saturday.
Fighting broke out on Friday between irregular military forces and Ansar Sharia militants.
Residents said fighting abated on Saturday, but the leader of the militia calling itself “National Army” said the war was not yet over.
“The operation will continue until Benghazi is purged of terrorists,” Khalifa Haftar, a retired general, told the broadcaster Libya Awalan.
“National Army” spokesman Mohammed Al-Hijazi said on Friday that the fighting should not be construed as a civil war.
“This is not a civil war. It’s an operation against terrorist groups,” added Hijazi.
Haftar and Hijazi both fought with thousands of others during Libya’s “Arab Spring” revolution in 2010.
During that uprising that later ended with Qaddafi’s defeat with the help of NATO and Qatari warplanes, the defectors fought alongside Islamist and other militias.
Many of those who fought against Qaddafi have joined the newly formed army and police forces but some militias have refused to disband, especially those in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city where the uprising against Qaddafi started.
Among these militias is the Ansar Sharia, an organization designated by the United States as a terrorist group, according to the army.
The Ansar Sharia was the target of Haftar’s attacks on Friday, using both air and ground forces.
Libya’s regular amy denied any involvement in Friday’s clashes, and the government condemned the operation.
“The (regular) army has nothing to do with the clashes. The army did not give any orders for any sort of operation,” Armed forces chief of staff Abdessalam Jadallah Al-Salihin said in Tripoli.
But Salihin admitted that some officers and units from the regular army had joined Haftar’s group.
Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thani denounced Haftar’s forces as “outlaws” and told a news conference in Tripoli that the army was “in control on the ground.” He also urged restraint.
The fighting subsided on Friday afternoon, an AFP journalist said, as witnesses reported that Haftar’s forces were pulling back.
Air traffic was suspended in Benghazi during the day and an official said the city’s airport would be closed for 24 hours for security reasons.
Libyans appear divided about the fighting in Benghazi.
Some believe that Haftar’s operation is the prelude to a military coup and his objective is to seize power.
Others see him as a strongman who could rid Libya of extremism, a task the central authorities have been unable to achieve despite pledging to do so.
Little has been done since Tripoli made its vow in March to tackle the issue forcefully.
Faced with a wave of assassinations and attacks on security forces in the east, tribes and the military have allied themselves with Haftar’s forces, who are also supported by separatist rebels who for months blockaded petroleum sites.
Haftar himself comes from eastern Libya. He defected from Qaddafi’s forces in the late 1980s and spent nearly two decades in the United States.
He returned to the North African country after the Arab Spring swept eastward from Tunisia to join the uprising.
Because of his background, he is regularly accused of being in the pay of the Americans.