Man holds bullet cartridge in the aftermath of a shooting outside a police station in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on May 15, 2013. A new rash of violence has taken place in the U.S.-led North African state., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Libya unrest: Armed groups attack Benghazi military posts
Unidentified gunman attacked three military posts in Benghazi on Saturday, highlighting the Libyan government's struggle to establish security.
Unidentified armed groups assaulted military posts in restive Benghazi on Saturday, a Libyan army commander said.
No deaths were reported in four separate overnight attacks on the three posts, where assailants used rocket-propelled grenades and bombs, commander Hamed Belkhair said.
Possibly in a related story, a soldier was injured early Saturday in a drive-by bomb attack at a Benghazi checkpoint, a security official told Agence France-Presse.
"A bomb was thrown from a car at an army checkpoint at the Dubail crossroads in the centre of Benghazi," the anonymous official said, adding, "The attack was carried out at around 2 a.m." The attackers' identity is unknown, though these incidents are usually blamed on radical Islamists.
Since the U.S.-NATO led counter-revolution against former revolutionary leader Muammar Ghadaffi, Libya's rebel government has struggled to control some of its territory, as many of the rebel brigades from the counter-revolution compete for influence.
"The national army is being subjected to these attacks because they are doing a great job of cleaning the city of criminals' shelters," Belkhair told Reuters.
On Wednesday, an innocent bystander was killed in Benghazi after a police station was set aflame in a possible attempt to free a prisoner. That same day, the US said it would transfer two planes and 200 Marines to bases in Italy, in case its diplomats are attacked again.
"This is a reinforcement for the security of US personnel in Libya or for possible evacuations," Italy's Foreign Minister Emma Bonino told parliament.
The Libyan rebel army had sent additional forces to Benghazi after car exploded and killed three people near a hospital on Monday.
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