Renegade General Claims Jet Raid on Libya Militia Position

A warplane carried out an air raid Monday on a military base in western Libya held by anti-government militias, in an attack claimed by renegade former general Khalifa Haftar.

State news agency LANA said 15 people were lightly wounded as the raid hit a munitions depot in the town of Gharyan, 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of the capital.

The militias in Gharyan form part of Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), an alliance including Islamists that was targeted by unidentified warplanes near Tripoli airport last month.

Washington said at the time that the United Arab Emirates and Egypt were behind the raids, although Haftar's forces also claimed that attack.

General Saqr Jarrushi, a close aide of Haftar, insisted Monday that their forces carried out the air strike in Gharyan.

Haftar launched an assault against Islamists in the eastern city of Benghazi on May 16.

Fajr Libya rejects the legitimacy of the elected parliament because it allegedly supported the air raids against its fighters at Tripoli airport.

The government, in turn, has accused Sudan and Qatar of supplying weapons to its Islamist opponents.

Parliament and the internationally recognized government relocated in August to Tobruk 1,500 kilometers (1,000 miles) east of Tripoli, as Islamist and nationalist militias battled for control of the capital.