Parliament attacked by rogue forces

TRIPOLI (AP):

Forces loyal to a rogue Libyan general attacked the country's parliament yesterday, forcing lawmakers to flee an assault his spokesman said targeted Islamists there who protect the extremist militias now plaguing the nation.

The attack was met with resistance from other troops, Mohammed al-Hegazi, a spokesman for General Khalifa Hifter, told Libya's al-Ahrar television station.

Gunfire near parliament could be heard for kilometres (miles) around.

A security official said the attackers also shelled a nearby military base controlled by an Islamist militia. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to brief journalists.

Hifter is carrying out an offensive against Islamist militias in Benghazi, the country's second-largest city in the east. He says the central government and parliament have no mandate and vowed to press on with his operation after authorities called it a coup.

Al-Hegazi called the parliament the "heart of the crisis" in Libya.

Islamist threat

"This parliament is what supports these extremist Islamist entities," al-Hegazi told the station. "The aim was to arrest these Islamist bodies who wear the cloak of politics."

Lawmakers say security officials evacuated them from the building out of fears it would be stormed.

Libya's parliament is divided between Islamist and non-Islamist forces who have bickered over appointing a new government and holding new elections. Recently, Islamists forces backed the naming of a new prime minister, amid walkouts from the non-Islamist groups. The new interim prime minister has not yet named a Cabinet.