At least 36 people were killed in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi, many of them civilians, in clashes between Libyan Special Forces and Islamist militants on Saturday night and yesterday morning, medical and security sources said.

Another 23, all Egyptian workers, were killed in the capital, Tripoli, when a rocket hit their home on Saturday during clashes between rival militias battling over the city's main airport, the Egyptian state news agency reported.

In the last two weeks Libya has descended into its deadliest violence since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, prompting the United States, the United Nations and Turkey to pull diplomats out. With the central government unable to impose order, two rival militias are exchanging fire in Tripoli, while army units are trying to push out Islamist militants who have set up camps on the outskirts of Benghazi.