Benghazi: The death toll following a double car bomb attack in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Tuesday night has risen to34 people and wounded 87, hospital sources said.
The city's Al Jala hospital received 25 dead and 51 wounded, its spokeswoman Fadia Al Barghathi said.
An explosives-rigged vehicle blew up in front of a mosque in the central neighbourhood of Al Sleimani, a security source said.
A second car exploded 30 minutes later in the same area, causing more casualties among security services and civilians.
The mosque is known to be a base for Salafist groups which fought militants in the eastern port city alongside forces loyal to military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
Ahmad Al Fitouri, a security services official for Haftar’s forces, was among those killed in the bombing, military spokesman Miloud Al Zwei said.
Libya has been rocked by chaos since a 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Muammar Gaddafi, with two rival authorities and multiple militias vying for control of the oil-rich country.
Haftar in July announced the “total liberation” of Benghazi, three years after his forces launched a military operation to seize the city from militants who had made it a stronghold following the revolution.
But clashes and attacks in the city have continued, including against diplomatic facilities and security forces.
Haftar supports a parliament based in the far east of Libya, while a rival United Nations-backed unity government in the western capital Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority nationwide.
