Nine Libyan forces killed in clashes with Qaddafi loyalists

At least nine Libyan security forces were killed on Saturday in clashes with loyalists of former strongman Muammar Qaddafi in the west-central city of Brak, Al Arabiya correspondent Tripoli reported.

Al Arabiya’s Mahmoud Al Farjani said heavy clashes were continuing in the city, of about 40,000 people.

Earlier, six members of the security forces were "executed" after clashes in Benghazi between protesters and a militia linked to the defense ministry, a medical examiner told AFP on Saturday.

"From the nature of the wounds it is clear that the six were executed," the medical examiner said on condition of anonymity, adding that four of them were shot in the head while the others were shot in the chest as well as the head.

An official at the prosecutor's office confirmed the toll.

According to the medical examiner, "all six worked in the army or police according to relatives who identified the bodies."

The official in the prosecutor's office, Khaled al-Aghuri, added: "They were found in Mashrua al-Safsafa, in the area of Al-Gawasha, which is in the periphery of Benghazi."

Earlier, medical officials in Benghazi hospitals reported that at least four other people had died and 40 been wounded when armed demonstrators protesting against militias clashed with a government unit of ex-rebels.

The fatalities came as Libyan protesters ousted a jihadist militia from its headquarters early Saturday and seized a raft of other paramilitary bases in Benghazi, Libya's second city.

Around 70 people were wounded in the overnight violence, medics at Benghazi's three main hospitals said.