BENGHAZI, Libya (AA) – At least four people were killed and 30 others were wounded when shells hit a rally in the Libyan city of Benghazi Saturday, unnamed hospital sources said.
Shells were fired at Al-Keesh Square, where demonstrators were protesting against the UN-backed government, the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking with the media, said.
Protesters carried banners that read: “No to political tutelage.”
Libya has had two rival governments since the ouster and subsequent killing of strongman Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
For five years, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, one in Tobruk and one in capital Tripoli, each of which has its own military capacity and legislative assembly.
Late last year, Libya’s rival parliaments signed a UN-sponsored agreement to form a unity government in an effort to resolve the years-long conflict in the country.
However, the Tobruk-based parliament failed to vote on the unity government.
Following repeated confidence votes on a proposed cabinet lineup for a UN-backed unity government, Fayez al-Sarraj, the unity government’s prime minister-designate and a former member of the Tripoli-based parliament, announced in April that the government started working in Tripoli.
A national unity government is believed to be necessary to rescue Libya and bring an end to the country’s political fragmentation.
*Anadolu Agency Correspondent Ayse Humeyra Atilgan contributed to this report from Ankara.
