By Moataz al-Majbari
BENGHAZI, Libya
Speaker of Libya's House of Representatives (parliament) Aguila Salah has denied reports that Egypt was carrying out airstrikes against Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi.
"It is untrue that Egyptian planes carried out airstrikes in Libyan territory against terrorists and camps run by extremist militias in Benghazi," Salah said in a Thursday press release.
He said that Libyan army forces were fighting terrorism "without military support from any country."
"The Libyan army is backed by a popular mandate that rejects any [foreign] military intervention," he added.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press quoted two unnamed Egyptian officials as saying that Egyptian planes had struck sites belonging to Islamist militias in eastern Libya.
The two officials said that the strikes were "part of an Egypt-led operation against armed militias in Libya that also included Libyan ground forces."
The Egyptian Presidency, however, denied that its warplanes had struck Islamist militia sites in the flashpoint city.
Libya has been dogged by political instability since the 2011 ouster and death of longstanding ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Ever since, rival militias have been locking horns, bringing violence to Libya's main cities.
The sharp political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each of which has its own institutions.
Two assemblies currently vie for legislative authority: a recently-elected House of Representatives, which convenes in the eastern city of Tobruk; and the General National Congress, which – even though its mandate ended in August – continues to convene in capital Tripoli.
The two parliaments support two different governments respectively headquartered in the two cities.
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