Gunmen clash in a Libyan city and fires erupt at a nearby oil refinery

Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan officials say clashes have broken out between armed groups in a western city, trapping residents in their homes and causing fires in the country’s second largest oil refinery. Local media say the fighting in the coastal city of Zawiya on Sunday pitted gunmen loyal to the Shurafaa tribe against warlord Mohamed Kushlalf. He was sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council in 2018 for his alleged involvement in human trafficking. It wasn’t immediately clear what triggered the clashes but they are not uncommon in western Libya, which is controlled by an array of lawless militias and armed groups.