A clash between armed groups on Sunday night, Monday, in the city of Al-Zawiya in western Libya, resulted in the killing of five people and the injury of 13 others, according to an official report.
Local media reported that clashes with heavy weapons erupted between two groups affiliated with the Ministry of Defense and the Interior, in the heart of this city, 40 kilometers west of the capital, Tripoli.
And the (government) Emergency and Ambulance Service announced the killing of five people, including a 10-year-old girl, and the injury of 13 others.

A security source told AFP, asking not to be identified, that the fighting broke out after a member of one of the two groups was killed by a supporter of the other group due to a dispute over an issue related to buying and selling smuggled fuel, which is very common in this city near the border with Tunisia.

And official medical sources in Libya announced that five people were killed, including a 10-year-old girl, and 13 others were injured in violent clashes that make use of heavy weapons in the city of Al-Zawiya, in the west of the country, between armed formations affiliated with the Ministries of Defense and Interior in the western region.
Armed clashes with heavy weapons erupted under the Al-Khadra Bridge in the city of Al-Zawiya in the west of the country, between the Al-Sala Brigade led by Othman Al-Lahab and the "Sifaw" militia, as part of the struggle for influence in the city.
 
Libyan military sources confirmed in exclusive statements to the seventh day that the conflict between the armed militias in Zawiya comes within the ongoing armed conflict between the militias, referring to the huge mobilization of heavy and medium mechanisms in the city center during the past hours, pointing to the presence of mediation led by the sheikhs and notables of the city of Zawiya to stop the fire.
 
The sources indicated that there is a large spread of a number of tanks under the Green Bridge, amid appeals from the stuck families to provide a safe passage for them to leave
These clashes occurred at a time when the North African country is going through a serious political crisis against a backdrop of chronic insecurity characterized by frequent fighting between armed groups.

Two governments have been vying for power since March: one based in Tripoli and led by Abdel Hamid Dabaiba since 2021, and the other led by Fathi Pashaga and backed by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of the East.

At the end of August, fighting between rival militias in Tripoli left 32 dead and 159 wounded as a result of this political standoff.

Libya has entered a state of chaos since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, and has known struggles for power and divisions between regions, in addition to the deepening crisis of the foreign military presence and mercenaries throughout the country, which feeds the chronic conflict in Libya.

Source: agencies