Airstrikes kill 11 Libyan Islamist militants

Several fighter jets bombed the Islamist militants' bases in Libya's Tripoli in the early hours of Saturday, killing 11 and injuring 20, according to military sources.
Mohammed Ghiryany, spokesman for the Islamist armed group, said their army headquarters were bombed along with some civilian neighborhoods near Tripoli's airport highway, adding that their fighters were performing the morning prayer when the airstrikes took place, and they were still holding the crucial bases and crossroads nearby.
The Islamist armed groups were under sporadic airstrikes since the past week, but the identities of the warplanes were still a mystery.
Earlier, Khalifa Haftar, who launched his so-called anti- terrorism military campaign Operation Dignity targeting Islamist militants in May and led his troops constantly pounding the Islamist forces, claimed the responsibility for the airstrikes. Later, Libya's Air Staff said in a statement on Monday that it had received evidence showing that the airstrikes were launched by foreign warplanes.
Local media reported that the warplanes might belonged to the Italian or French Air Force, but both country denied their involvement in the incidents. Some analysts also doubted that the jets were from Algeria and were coordinating Haftar's maneuver.
Since July 13, clashes between Islamist armed groups and pro- secular militias in Tripoli alone have left at least 102 people dead and 452 others wounded. Meanwhile, in eastern Benghazi, fierce fighting has continued between the army and Islamist militant groups, who now have their hands on most of the city.
Some analysts said the airstrikes have added the complicity of the conflict and they will make the clashes even bloodier.
Libya has witnessed a drastic escalation of violence since the 2011 turmoil, which toppled its former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The recent deadly clashes between rival armed factions in major cities including Tripoli, Benghazi, Gharyan, Zawiya, have raised fears that the conflict could turn into a full-fledged civil war.