BENGHAZI, Libya — At least 36 people were killed in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, many of them civilians, in clashes between Libyan Special Forces and Islamist militants on Saturday night and Sunday morning, medical and security sources said. The violence follows the U.S.’s announcement Saturday that it was evacuating its embassy in Libya, driving diplomats across the border into Tunisia under heavy military escort.
Another 23 people, all Egyptian workers, were killed in the capital Tripoli when a rocket hit their home on Saturday during clashes between rival militias battling over the city's main airport, the Egyptian state news agency reported. In the last two weeks, Libya has descended into its deadliest violence since the 2011 war that ousted Moammar Gadhafi, prompting the United States, the United Nations and Turkey to pull their diplomatic staff out of the North African country. With the central government unable to impose order, two rival militias are fighting in Tripoli, while army units are trying to push out Islamist militants who have set up camps on the outskirts of Benghazi.
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