By Libya Herald reporters.
Benghazi, 12 July 2015:
Five civilians in Benghazi were killed today by mortar fire while the wider battle to . . .[restrict]oust militants from the city was marginally less intense.
Four of the victims died in Twenty Street. A mortar shell had exploded in the crowded road killing two and injuring many more. As people rushed into the carnage to see what they could do to help, a second mortar round landed killing another two people and inflicting yet more injuries. A fifth man was killed in Bouatni.
The focus of the army’s drive against Ansar Al-Sharia remains Nubs Square, where militants are still holding out behind solid barricades of sand-filled containers. However army sources say that the square is now cut off on three sides and the aim is interdict the defenders entirely from their supplies. The area was hit today by two Mig-23 airstrikes.
On Friday there were claims, based on lower rates of fire, that Ansar was running out of ammunition. This could be related to the difficulty in bring fresh stocks forward rather than a lack of supplies at the small Mreissa port where weapons and men are still being smuggled in.
On Friday the airforce claimed to have hit one such supply boat, although Air Force Commander Saqr Geroushi did not claim the vessel was destroyed. There are now credible reports that the boat attacked was part of a loose convoy of seven vessels, the rest of which presumably docked and discharged their cargoes safely. [/restrict]
