Western Libya rocket strike kills one foreigner, wounds 8 people

A Filipino was killed and eight people were wounded when a rocket likely to have targeted a refinery hit the western Libyan town of Zawiya, a Libyan official said on Monday.

Town council head Mohamed Khadrawi said the wounded comprised three Filipinos, one African national and four Libyans.

He said a Grad rocket had late on Sunday hit an area near a car the foreign workers had been travelling in to go home after work.

The Zawiya region has seen fighting between rival factions allied to two governments and parliaments competing for power in a complex struggle in the oil producer involving different tribes, regions, Islamists and more secular forces.

A source from forces allied to the internationally-recognised government based in the east denied claims by some officials in Tripoli -- which is controlled by a rival government -- that they had fired a Grad in the direction of Zawiya or a nearby 120,000 barrels a day refinery.

The official government is based in the east after Tripoli was seized by a rival faction in August, reinstating a previous assembly and setting up a rival government.

Both sides have been attacking each other with war planes.

The official government had recently launched a military offensive to “liberate” Tripoli using allied tribesmen.