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Libyan Officials: Militant Attack Kills 9 Troops at LNA Base 


FILE - Forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar patrol in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, Feb. 9, 2019. An attack by militants May 4, 2019, on guards near a Sabha air base left nine soldiers dead.
FILE - Forces loyal to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar patrol in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, Feb. 9, 2019. An attack by militants May 4, 2019, on guards near a Sabha air base left nine soldiers dead.

Libyan officials say militants have killed at least nine soldiers in an attack on a training camp for the self-styled Libyan National Army in the country's southwestern desert.

The officials said militants clashed Saturday with guards near an air base seized earlier this year by the LNA in the town of Sabha. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack.

Sabha is 650 kilometers (400 miles) south of the capital, Tripoli, where Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's LNA forces are fighting to take control of the city from militias affiliated with a weak U.N.-supported government.

The U.N. humanitarian agency said Friday that the monthlong assault on Tripoli has displaced nearly 55,000 people.

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