14 killed in Libya's Benghazi city

A series of targeted attacks have claimed the lives of 14 people in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, security sources said Saturday.

A total of 14 people, including a journalist, security forces and civilians, were killed, shocking Benghazi citizens with terror within 24 hours from Thursday evening to Friday evening, Xinhua quoted a security official as saying.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the killings. But some local media blamed it on the armed Islamist groups.

Since August, most parts of Benghazi have fallen into control of the armed Islamist groups, including Shura Council and Ansar al-Sharia, which has been listed as a terrorist group by the United States.

Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 turmoil that toppled Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has witnessed a drastic escalation of violence since then. Libya has been witnessing violence since May, when Islamist militants and secular-leaning government-allied militias engaged in deadly clashes in major cities like Tripoli, Benghazi and Gharyan.

On Wednesday, unknown gunmen shot dead former air forces chief Ahmed Habib al-Mesmari in the al-Hadaek region of Benghazi.