Deadly car bomb explodes outside military base near Benghazi

A suicide-bomb attack at an army base outside of the Libyan city of Benghazi killed at least six people and wounded up to 15 others Sunday morning, medical and security sources said.

The attacker detonated his explosive inside of a car parked in front of the base in Barsis, some 30 miles outside Benghazi, a security source told Reuters. All of those killed were soldiers, medical sources said, but the security source said the attacker was among the dead.

Over the past few months, the security situation has sharply deteriorated in Benghazi, the country's second-largest city, where car bombs and assassinations of army and police officers happen regularly. Wary of attacks, most countries have closed their consulates and local airlines have halted flights to the city.

In September 2012, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed during an assault on the U.S. consulate.

Separately, tribesmen in Jalo in the southeast brought the bodies of five Libyan soldiers to a local hospital Saturday evening, state news agency Lana reported. The soldiers had been killed in clashes two days ago, the agency said without giving details.

Western diplomats worry the violence in Benghazi will spill over to the capital Tripoli, which last month saw the worst fighting in months between opposing militias.

Much of Libya's oil wealth is located in the east, where many demand autonomy from the Tripoli government, adding to turmoil in the North African country.

The government of Prime Minister Ali Zeidan is struggling to control militias and tribesmen, which kept their weapons after helping topple long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

Oil exports, Libya's lifeline, have fallen to 110,000 barrels per day, a fraction of the more than 1 million barrels per day it exported in July, as armed militias, tribesmen and other minorities continue to seize oilfields and ports to press for political and financial demands. Zeidan has warned that the government will be unable to pay public salaries if the attacks continue.

Reuters