3 killed as suicide bomb attack targets rogue Libyan general house

PanARMENIAN.Net - A suicide bomb attack Wednesday, June 4, at the home of a rogue Libyan general - who has been leading an offensive against government-funded Islamist militia - has killed at least three people, BBC News reported.

General Khalifa Haftar, an army chief-of-staff under Col Muammar Gaddafi, survived the blast in the city of Benghazi, officials say. Several people were wounded.

Benghazi is at the center of a two-week long campaign by Gen Haftar's forces against Islamist armed groups.

Gen Haftar accuses the government of supporting terrorism, which the authorities deny. His actions have been backed by an array of groups, including military forces in the east as well as some members of the air force.

Gen Haftar's spokesman, Col Mohamed Hijazi, said the general was not hurt in Wednesday's attack, but military officials told the Associated Press he was wounded and taken to a Benghazi hospital.

A suicide bomber drove a vehicle packed with explosives to the home of the former general, his officials say.

Some 18 people died in fierce clashes between Gen Haftar's forces and Islamist fighters in Benghazi on Monday. The groups being targeted by Gen Haftar's forces are the Ansar al-Sharia Islamist militia and the February 17 brigade, which fought against Gaddafi in 2011.

Libya is still in turmoil three years after the fall of Gaddafi - with political, religious and political factions locked in disagreement about the country's future.