Militants kill six in Benghazi

Six people were killed late Monday in five separate attacks by unidentified gunmen in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, medical and security sources said.

Medical and security sources told Anadolu Agency that four of the victims were security troops who were killed in separate attacks by unknown gunmen in various parts of the city.

One of them, identified as Saad al-Jawzi, had his son killed in the attack as well, the sources said.

The sixth victim was a Salafist preacher who was shot dead outside a local mosque near Hawari cemetery, security sources said.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks – the latest in a string of recent assassinations that targeted several individuals in the volatile city.

Rights watchdog Human Rights Watch last month decried an assassination spree that left 14 people dead last weekend in the city, saying the perpetrators appeared to enjoy total impunity.

Describing the period from September 18 to 20 as “some of the bloodiest days this year” in Benghazi, the watchdog, lamented that Libyan authorities had failed to investigate or prosecute the perpetrators of unlawful killings since the 2011 ouster and death of longstanding ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya has been dogged by political instability since Gaddafi’s 2011 ouster and death, with several militias holding onto their weapons following the bloody uprising.

Benghazi, Libya’s second city, has recently turned into a battlefield between troops loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar and the Islamist Ansar al-Sharia militia, while the Libyan government has remained largely absent from the scene.