DHAKA: At least 14 people were killed in battles in Libya’s second city Benghazi between militiamen and forces loyal to the internationally recognized government.

Hospital officials said Thursday, reports TDS.

The fighting erupted Wednesday morning in the center of the city, cradle of the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed veteran president Moammar Gadhafi, the officials said.

The Benghazi Medical Centre said on its Facebook page that it had received the bodies of 13 people as well as 50 wounded.

Al-Jalaa hospital said it was hit by a rocket that killed one person and wounded three.

It was not immediately clear if those killed and wounded in the clashes - which subsided late Wednesday - were civilians or fighters.

Benghazi has been reeling from more than a year of near-daily clashes between pro-government forces and armed groups, including Islamists, battling for control of the eastern city.

At least 1,700 people have been killed in the violence since early 2014, according to the Libya Body Count watchdog.

BDST: 2015 HRS, JULY 09, 2015
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