By Adam Ali.
Benghazi, 6 February 2015:
Operation Dignity and the Libyan National Army (LNA) claim to have taken control of the central . . .[restrict]Bengahzi’s port area as well as taken part of the neighbouring Suq Al-Hout district following heavy fighting there yesterday.
There were also fierce clashes in nearby Sabri and in Laithi as in the army pushed in to try and dislodge Ansar Al-Sharia and its allies, with heavy weaponry including tanks and missiles being used. In West Salmani, four civilians were injured when a missile, believed to have been fired randomly, hit a house. Their injuries are said not to be life-threatening.
According to head of the Special Forces investigation Department Fadel Al-Hassi, seven soldiers were killed and 25 injured in the port area fighting. An officer at the port, who did not want to be named, told the Libya Herald that he knew of four of his colleagues who had been killed and sevenothers injured. The port area, he confirmed, was now completely in army hands.
The situation on the ground is still not fully clear, however. Army sources yesterday said that it had also taken the neighbouring Courthouse area, famous as the city’s rallying point during the 2011 Revolution but which in recent weeks has been under Ansar control. However, when contacted again the officer said that the LNA had subsequently withdrawn “as a precaution”, he said.
This is also not the first time that the LNA have claimed to have taken the Suq Al-Hout area.
The city is quiet this morning. [/restrict]
