BENGHAZI — Forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar said Friday that they had carried out airstrikes against Chadian fighters in southern Libya.

Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army said in a statement it had hit “three groups of Chadians and their allies”.

The “violent and painful” strikes targeted groups near Marzouk in southern Libya, the LNA added, without giving further details.

The LNA on Sunday announced it had carried out an air strike against “Chadian opposition” groups in the same area.

It was not immediately possible to verify if the Chadian groups the LNA targeted have any links to Chadian fighters France said it hit with air strikes in recent days.

The LNA in mid-January announced the start of an offensive intended to “purge the south of terrorists and criminal groups”, including rebels from Chad.

But the operation carries the risk of stoking tensions in a marginalized region that has seen bloody ethnic fighting between Tubu, Tuareg and Arab ethnic groups since the fall of Muammar Gaddaf’s regime in 2011.

Libya remains profoundly divided, principally between an internationally backed Government of National Accord that is based in Tripoli and a rival administration in eastern Libya supported by Haftar’s LNA.

Security and stability has also been undermined by myriad militia and jihadists.

Suspected Al-Qaeda

leader arrested

Authorities have arrested a suspected Al-Qaeda leader who fled from the eastern city of Derna, once a militant bastion, a source in the attorney general’s office said on Friday.

Abdel Qader Azuz was arrested in the western city of Misrata and then brought to the capital, Tripoli, the source said. No other details were immediately available.

Azuz was one of the top militants in Derna, according to Libyan officials.

— Reuters

The city has been long a hotpot fo militants. Many had fled Libya to escape persecution by Muammar Gaddafi and to fight in Afghanistan, then returned home after the dictator was toppled in 2011.

Eastern military forces allied to Khalifa Haftar, which control eastern Libya, have seized much of Derna in an ongoing military campaign that officials say is almost over.

It was not clear whether Libyan authorities had been assisted by the United States, which has several times snatched militants from Libya or given assistance to local authorities. The arrest came after US charge d’affaires for Libya, Peter Bodde, who is based in Tunis, visited Misrata last week.