Tripoli, May 2 (IANS) Dozens of gunmen Friday launched an attack against the headquarters of the security forces in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, killing at least eight people and injuring 24, according to security sources.
The Benghazi Medical Centre authorities kept updating the casualties, saying they have now received eight bodies and 19 wounded people while the Galaa hospital have treated five wounded, Xinhua reported.
A security officer said that two policemen and some Special Forces soldiers were among the dead, and there are still four soldiers missing.
The officer said the Special Forces have entered into a “the state of alarm”, and called on all soldiers to assemble immediately.
The number of casualties among the armed group who made the assault at dawn in an attempt to seize a caisson confiscated by the security forces has been kept unknown. The gunmen also launched an attack against Colonel Ramadan Louhichi, head of the Benghazi security force, leaving his house severely damaged.
Some security sources said the gunmen were presumably ex-fighters who participated in the war which toppled Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Benghazi was the birthplace of the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi. The city witnessed a drastic escalation of violence and has become a major base of extremists in North Africa since the US ambassador to Libya was killed in 2012.
The interim government has also failed to confiscate the weapons and ammos spread all over the country, which make it a major threat to the security of people.
On Tuesday, a car bomb exploded at a military base in Benghazi, killing two soldiers and injuring several others.