TRIPOLI, Libya — The death toll from fighting over the weekend in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi between troops loyal to a rogue general and Islamist militias has risen to 70, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.
It said 141 people were also injured in the fighting, which broke out on Friday.
Benghazi, birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled Libya’s late dictator Moammar Gadhafi, was quiet on Sunday, but its airport remained closed for the second successive day.
Libya’s weak central government describes the offensive, which began Friday by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, and included air support, as tantamount to a coup. The violence there showed how precarious government control remains three years after the 2011 civil war that toppled Gadhafi.
Libya’s military banned flights Saturday over Benghazi and said in a statement that it would target any military aircraft flying over the city, where the uprising against Gadhafi began.
