Eight Libyan soldiers killed in IS attack

At least eight soldiers were killed and six others were injured in Libya's Benghazi city when IS militants attacked an army check point, media reported.

IS militants on Monday attacked an army site in Nowagia gate, about eight km southeast of Benghazi, in an attempt to enter the area, Xinhua news agency quoted a military source as saying.

The IS militants on Tuesday said in Twitter and Facebook accounts that "the caliphate battles continued in Nowagia area, where two sites of the soldiers of the tyrant have been attacked. All of them were killed and two tanks and two military vehicles were destroyed."

The Libyan army, led by retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, has been engaged in a war against extremist groups for over a year in the city of Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 turmoil in which former leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled.

Libya has slipped into a state of anarchy and insecurity since Gaddafi's fall in 2011. The North African country is plagued with continuous clashes and escalating violence.