REUTERS - Forces loyal
to Libya's eastern government said they had carried out an air strike against
opponents in the central Jufra region on Monday.
Ahmed
al-Mismari, a spokesman for the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), said
the strike had targeted a camp used by the Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB), a
force that the LNA has previously clashed with.
The LNA and
the BDB are on opposite sides of a conflict in which two loose and shifting
alliances have battled for power in Libya since 2014, aligning themselves with
rival governments in Tripoli and the east.
In recent
months the LNA, led by Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar, has made military gains
in Benghazi and Libya's Oil Crescent region, provoking several attempted
counter-attacks by his rivals.
"This was
a pre-emptive strike against militias that are mobilising for an attack against
the Libyan army," Mismari said. There was no immediate comment from the
BDB.
Images from
the oasis town of Houn posted on local media sites showed thick smoke rising
close to residential buildings. No casualties were reported.
The LNA
carried out air strikes this month to repel what it said was an attempt to
recapture Oil Crescent ports it took control of in September. Shortly
afterwards, it launched strikes against opponents at a military base in Jufra.
The strikes
have raised fears of a new escalation in Libya's conflict. A U.N.-backed
government in Tripoli has so far failed to reconcile Libya's warring factions.
REUTERS
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