Two suicide bombers drove a car packed with explosives into an army checkpoint in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi yesterday, killing seven people and wounding nine, army and medical sources told Reuters.

In a separate incident, a rocket hit a residential building in the city, killing a 17-year old girl and wounding up to five people, the sources said.

Benghazi has become a war zone, with heavy clashes almost daily be­tween Islamist fighters and forces of the internationally recognised government. The main commercial port has been closed for more than four months, disrupting wheat and food imports.

The latest violence came after Ansar al-Sharia, a militant group, said a senior Islamist commander had been killed in Benghazi on Monday.

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