DHAKA: Fierce clashes broke out on Monday between army special forces and fighters from Libya’s top jihadist group in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing at least five soldiers, officials said.

The army declared a ‘state of alert’ and ordered all soldiers to report for duty at barracks.

‘A violent clash has been taking place for several hours between our forces and an Ansar al-Sharia cell,’ Colonel Milud al-Zwei, spokesman for Libya’s special forces, told media, reports The Straits Times.

Updating an earlier toll, medics at the city’s Al-Jala hospital, said five soldiers were killed and 23 people wounded, including 10 civilians.

BDST: 1533 HRS, NOV 25, 2013