24 killed in Libya clashes

Tripoli: Clashes between Libya's UN-backed government forces and the east-based army in Abugrein town killed 24 troops and injured more than 100 from both parties.

"The battle in Abugrein town killed 12 and injured 55 of our troops," a source of the east-based army told Xinhua news agency on Sunday night.

The UN-backed government's forces also said that 12 of their fighters were killed and more than 50 others injured during the clashes.

It said that they repelled the attack and destroyed and seized a number of armoured vehicles of the east-based army.

The east-based army, led by General Khalifa Haftar, has been leading a military campaign since April 2019 in an attempt to take over Tripoli from the UN-backed government.

Thousands of people have been killed or injured in the fighting, and more than 150,000 civilians were forced to flee their homes from the violence.

The two rival factions, which agreed to a cease-fire deal on January 12, have been accusing each other of breaching the truce.