60 killed in Libya factional clashes

At least 60 people were killed as rival Libyan forces clashed at a southern air base on Thursday, medical and military officials said, dimming hopes that tensions in the area can be calmed.

The violence erupted after a brigade from the western city of Misrata attacked Brak Al-Shati base, which they had previously ceded to an opposing faction aligned with the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA).

The two sides are attached to loose and shifting alliances based in the east and west of Libya that have vied for power over the past three years, deepening the divisions that surfaced with the country's 2011 uprising.

A medical source in Brak Al-Shati said 60 bodies had been brought to a hospital there, including members of miolitias and civilians who appeared to have been summarily killed.