TRIPOLI —
Five people were killed and 13 wounded in gun battles in the western Libyan
town of Zaouia, the latest unrest in the troubled
North African nation, medics
said Monday.
اضافة اعلان
Fighting late
Sunday broke out between rival forces equipped with heavy weapons, with one
group linked to defense ministry and the other to the interior ministry, local
media reported.
Libya’s ambulance
service reported five dead, including a 10-year-old girl, and 13 injured at
Zaouia which lies some 40km west of the capital Tripoli.
A security source,
who requested anonymity, said fighting broke out after a member of one group
was killed by a supporter of the other in a dispute over fuel smuggling, which
is common in this region bordering Tunisia.
The fighting comes
amid a political crisis between backers of rival Libyan prime ministers
Abdulhamid Dbeibah and Fathi Bashagha, whose administrations are vying for
control of the oil-rich nation.
Dbeibah’s
government was installed in Tripoli as part of a UN-led peace process last
year, while Bashagha was appointed by Libya’s eastern-based parliament in
February.
In late August,
fighting between rival militias in Tripoli left 32 people dead and 159 injured.
Libya plunged into chaos
following the 2011 overthrow and killing of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a
NATO-backed uprising, with myriad armed groups and foreign powers moving to
fill the power vacuum.
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