By Noora Ibrahim.
Benghazi, 23 August 2014:
Rumours circulating in Benghazi that Ansar Al-Sharia and its allies have taken control . . .[restrict]of Benina Airport and a nearby Air Defence Forces’ camp have been denied.
Head of Saiqa Special Forces Investigations Unit Fadel Al-Hassi told the Libya Herald that members of Operation Dignity remained in defensive positions in both locations and had retained them despite heavy fighting nearby.
Hassi said at least four members of Operation Dignity had been killed during clashes today and said he believed Ansar Al-Sharia had also sustained casualties.
Fighting has been reported in Benghazi in the Islamist held districts of Sidi Faraj, Guwarsha and Hawari but with, as has become usual in recent weeks, the worst of the fighting taking place in Buatni and on the approach to Benina Airport.
Hassi said that, away from the fighting, Dignity forces were still the subject of assassinations. He said that today Saiqa Special Forces officer Misbah Al-Maghrebi had been shot and killed by unknown assailants in the city.
[/restrict]
