BENGHAZI, Libya
Around 450 people were killed in a month and a half of fighting in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi between the Libyan army and the city's Islamist militias, a Health Ministry official said Saturday.
The official, who requested anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency that three Benghazi hospitals had been receiving the bodies of the victims of the clashes since October 15.
He said some of the victims were directly killed in the clashes, others were kidnapped and then killed while a third group of others killed a result of the shelling of residential areas in the eastern city.
The official added that the victims included 200 troops allied to retired general Khalifa Haftar, who has been leading the army's campaign against Libya's Islamists.
He noted that the victims also included children and women.
Haftar's troops fight against the Islamist Ansar Al-Sharia militia and the Benghazi Revolutionaries' Shura Council.
The Health Ministry official said Libya's militia's rarely take their wounded or dead members to hospitals.
He added that the members of these militias, who were brought to the hospitals within the past month and a half, were brought by the Libyan Red Crescent.
Clashes have been raging between the two sides since mid-October, but Libya's internationally-recognized House of Representatives declared its support for Haftar's operation against the Islamist militias only earlier this month.
Libya has been dogged by political instability since the 2011 ouster and death of long-ruling strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Ever since, rival militias have frequently locked horns, often bringing violence to the country's main cities, especially Benghazi and capital Tripoli.
www.aa.com.tr/en
