Islamic State militants kill eight Libyan soldiers in Benghazi

BENGHAZI, Libya, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Libya's internationally-recognized government says eight of its soldiers were killed when Islamic State militants attacked checkpoints Monday.

A further six soldiers were wounded in the assault, which occurred 4 miles southeast of Benghazi, Xinhua news agency reported the Tobruk government as saying Tuesday.

IS reportedly took to Facebook and Twitter to proclaim "the caliphate battles continued in Nowagia area, where two sites of the soldiers of the tyrant have been attacked. All of them were killed and two tanks and two military vehicles were destroyed."

Since the 2011 overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has been racked with violence, with rebel forces turning against one another and forming dual governing authorities: the internationally-recognized government in Tobruk, to the northeast, and the General National Congress in Tripoli, to the west.

Both sides agreed to a United Nations-backed ceasefire in January, but several militant groups not aligned with either side have not agreed to the arrangement -- including Majlis Shura Shabab al-Islam, an IS-affiliate that seized the city of Derna in November 2014.

Since its declaration of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group, which now calls itself Tripoli Province of the Islamic State, has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks, abductions and executions, including a February video depicting the decapitation of 21 Coptic Christians.

At least 25 people were killed in Aug. 16 street battles in Sirte between IS militants and a rival group of Salafist Muslims -- as well as several armed civilians -- following the death of a local cleric and others who refused to pledge allegiance to IS.

Days earlier, Abdullah al-Thinni, the prime minister of the Tobruk government, announced his resignation amid criticism of being unable to resolve the violence in Libya.

Monday's assault comes a day after the Libya Herald reported Col. Musbah Al-Daudi Al-Warshefani, an army officer who had been kidnapped three days before, was found dead in Tripoli with signs of torture on his body.

Meanwhile, locals in Guba told the publication that reports of IS militants attempting to assassinate an army officer on Sunday were exaggerated, and that the incident began as an argument between soldiers that had devolved into a shootout in which one member of the Libyan National Army was killed. Seeking revenge, the soldier's brother is reported to have shot and killed three of those involved before firing a rocket-propelled grenade at a house belonging to an officer who was assigned to the same outpost.