Three killed in Libya suicide attacks

Two suicide bombers Thursday attacked the airport in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, killing three soldiers, according to security sources.

The attackers, driving two cars loaded with explosives, were trying to break through the checkpoints when they detonated the bombs, leaving three soldiers dead and many others injured, Xinhua reported citing the sources.

Benghazi airport was considered the last stronghold for the renegade general Khalifa Haftar, who launched Operation Dignity last May against Islamist militants in what he described as an anti-terror campaign.

However, Haftar's fighters have been gradually forced out of the eastern city in the last two months.

According to the local Alwasat TV, Haftar's helicopters and warplanes took off from the airport to launch several attacks on Islamist militant bases.

Clashes on the ground were also reported in the city's Banina region, but casualties were not immediately known.

Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has witnessed a drastic escalation in violence since then. The city is now plagued by assassinations, kidnappings and deadly clashes between different armed groups.