Libyan soldiers and rival militiamen fought an hour-long battle in Benghazi on Friday. Military sources said the assailants tried to retake a vehicle loaded with weapons and ammunition that police had captured.

At least five Libyan soldiers were killed and 11 others were wounded when a special force unit intervened to push out the militiamen, according to military and medical sources.

Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 uprising that ended the rule of the late Muammar Gadhafi, resulting in a patchwork of local militias and a fragile central government in Tripoli.

Foreign consulates and airlines have largely avoided Benghazi since September 2012 when a US ambassador and three other Americans were killed during an Islamist militant attack.

Friday's violence came just days after a minibus packed with explosives detonated outside a Libyan army camp in Benghazi, killing two soldiers.

ipj/hc (Reuters, AFP)