(Author: Libyan Gazette Editorial Staff)
Twenty-two people were killed and 20 wounded after a car bomb which was intended for security forces exploded in Benghazi on Tuesday, said a spokesperson for General Khalifa Haftar.
The attack took place in the Guwarsha district, a residential neighbourhood that is prone to clashes between Haftar’s forces and other militia groups that oppose them.
The Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries (SCBR) took responsibility for the car bomb attack in a statement they posted on their social media sites.
This would mark the fourth bombing in a week, however, the toll from Tuesdays explosion was far higher than in previous attacks.
The eastern city has seen a large number of clashes since Haftar launched Operation Dignity, a campaign to take over eastern Libya, two years ago.
Despite Tuesday’s attack and other recent attacks Haftar’s forces have managed to make advances in a number of Benghazi’s neighbourhoods in the last few months.
Many car bomb attacks have taken place in Benghazi, however, Tuesday’s explosion was reported to be stronger than most.
A witness that spoke to Reuters said the powerful explosion reduced a three-story building to rubble, and that 10 vehicles, some of them armored, had been destroyed. Four field commanders were reported among the dead and some soldiers’ bodies were trapped under the rubble.
Fadel Al-Hassi, a spokesperson for Haftar, said the car bomb was a strategic attack on a meeting held for Haftar’s special forces.