By Libya Herald reporters.
Benghazi, 9 July 2017:
Libyan National Army (LNA) sources are claiming the deaths and capture of “dozens” of militants this evening as the final buildings in the Sidi Akribesh part of Benghazi’s Sabri district were overrun after four days of bitter fighting. There are unconfirmed reports that two more soldiers were killed in the last hours of the battle.
At least 22 members of the LNA have thus met their deaths in the four days since armed forces commander-in-chief Khalifa Hafter declared final victory in Benghazi.
Troops are tonight still sweeping the Sidi Akribesh area looking for militants who may have managed to escape the dragnet or have gone into hiding.
Meanwhile more mass graves are coming to light. Besides the ten bodies found yesterday in a Sabri school, some 20 more have been discovered in another school and on the beach. The corpses have not yet been identified. The Red Crescent is helping with their removal and DNA samples are being taken in an effort to find out who these people were.
While the battles since May, when the LNA assault began, have left many buildings wrecked they have also badly damaged water pipes and drains. In some areas, for instance outside the Sabri clinic, raw sewage and water from burst mains is in places two metres deep and submerging abandoned cars.
Fixing this environmental danger is clearly going to be the more difficult because of the unexploded shells and booby traps that still litter large parts of both Suq Al-Hout and Sabri.
