Suicide bomb attack in Libya’s Benghazi kills at least 22

Benghazi, Aug 3 (IANS) A suicide bomb attack killed at least 22 people in Libya's Benghazi on Tuesday.

Dozens of others were wounded in the attack on the outskirts of the city, Xinhua news agency quoted a hospital official as saying.

A coalition of Islamist militias, called the Shura Council of Benghazi Rebels, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.

"The artillery of the Shura Council of Benghazi Rebels targeted a gathering of the forces of Hafter with howitzer in Gwarsha area," the group said on its Twitter account.

The attack came after the US launched on Monday the first air strikes against the Islamic State (IS) targets in the Libyan city of Sirte, at the request of Libya's UN-brokered government.

Benghazi, the birthplace of the 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been witnessing a war between militant groups and the Libyan army since May 2014 when General Khalifa Haftar launched military operation "Dignity" against militants in the city.