Special Forces had to abandon their main camp in southeast Benghazi after coming under sustained attack from Islamist fighters and militias, the news agency quoted military officials and residents as saying.
“We have withdrawn from the army base after heavy shelling,” Fadel Al-Hassi, Saiqa Special Forces official said.
Meanwhile, Turkey's Anadolu news agency quoted Talal Bin Harir, a Benghazi Shura Revolutionary Council member, as saying that the Islamists were in control of the army base.
"We are now in control of the main army base of the Saiqa after we seized control over the past five days of more than five military bases belonging to these forces in Benghazi," he told the Turkish state news agency.
"We withdrew today from the main base after two weeks of fighting and because we received no support from any side," an officer with the Special Forces also told the agency.
"The battle has not yet ended and we are still confronting," the officer, who declined to be identified, told Anadolu.
Evacuation
Earlier on Tuesday, France said it was evacuating its nationals from Libya amid increasing lawlessness and unrest.France followed similar moves by other European nations including the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain.
The United States for its part evacuated its embassy, citing a real risk because of fighting between troops loyal to the Libyan government and Islamists.
The United Nations and Turkish embassies have shut their operations.
Several countries, including Britain, France, Germany and Egypt, at the weekend advised their nationals to leave immediately.
Mustapha Abu Shagur
Also on Tuesday, an armed group abducted a former Libyan deputy prime minister and newly-elected MP, Mustapha Abu Shagur, in the capital Tripoli, his nephew said, according to Agence France-Presse.“Men in three cars kidnapped my uncle from his house and took him away to an unknown destination,” Issam al-Naass said.
“Twenty minutes before his abduction, Mr Abu Shagur received a call from a stranger who asked him to leave the house because of imminent danger,” he added.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the kidnapping.
Abu Shagur was elected a deputy in Libya’s June 25 legislative election, in which he stood as an independent candidate.
He is due to take up his post on August 4, at the opening session of the Chamber of Representatives, elected in place of an interim parliament, the General National Congress.
Oil depot
Meanwhile an inferno has blazed since Sunday at an oil depot on the outskirts of Tripoli after a rocket struck a tank containing more than six million litres (1.6 million gallons) of fuel.State-owned National Oil Corp warned of a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe after the tank exploded.
Intense fighting in Benghazi and Tripoli, where many oil ports are based, and battles between rival militias in the capital Tripoli have pushed Libya deeper into chaos after two weeks of the fiercest violence since the 2011 civil war ousted Muammar Qaddafi.
Last Update: Wednesday, 30 July 2014 KSA 00:32 - GMT 21:32
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2014/07/29/Islamists-overrun-Benghazi-army-base-killing-30-.html
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Libya militias seize Benghazi special forces base...
ReplyDeleteA special forces base in the Libyan city of Benghazi has been seized by militias, fighters and officials say.
The site was captured by Islamist-led militias after days of fighting in the eastern city, officials said.
Meanwhile, Italy has offered to help extinguish a huge blaze that has engulfed the biggest fuel depot in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Libya has been gripped by instability since the 2011 uprising, with swathes of the country controlled by militias.
"We have withdrawn from the [Benghazi] army base after heavy shelling," Special Forces officer Fadel al-Hassi told reporters on Tuesday.
The fighters also confirmed in a statement that they had taken control of the base.............http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28557772