Clashes between armed groups erupted overnight in Tripoli, according to local media reports, the latest violence to hit the Libyan capital.
An Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist heard gunfire and explosions around 1 a.m. Saturday (11 p.m. GMT) in the city.
The fighting, with light and heavy weapons, occurred in the El Jebs district in the city's south, media reports said.
Tensions have been rising for months in Libya as two prime ministers vie for power, raising fears of renewed conflict two years after a landmark truce ended a ruinous attempt by eastern putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar to seize Tripoli by force.
Saturday's clashes were between armed groups loyal to Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah, head of the unity government based in Tripoli, and others following his rival Fathi Bashagha, named in February as prime minister by a parliament based in Libya's east after he made a pact with Haftar.
The fighting ended when another group called the 444 Brigade intervened to mediate, according to Libyan media. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Bashagha has failed in his attempts to oust Dbeibah, who has repeatedly asserted he will only hand over power to an elected government.
Tensions between armed groups loyal to the rival leaders have increased in recent months in Tripoli. On July 22, fighting in the heart of the city left 16 dead and about 50 wounded.
Once again, two competing governments are vying for control in Libya, already torn by more than a decade of civil war.
Libya has for years been split between rival administrations in the east and the west, each supported by rogue militias and foreign governments. The Mediterranean nation has been in a state of upheaval since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising toppled and later killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
But a plan had emerged in the past two years that was meant to put the country on the path toward elections. A U.N.-brokered process installed an interim government in early 2021 to shepherd Libyans to elections that were due late last year.
That government, led by Dbeibah, briefly unified the political factions under heavy international pressure. But the voting never took place, and since then, the plan has unraveled and left the country in crisis.
Lawmakers in Libya's east-based parliament, headed by influential speaker Aguila Saleh, argued that Dbeibah’s mandate ended when the interim government failed to hold elections.
They chose Bashagha, an influential former interior minister from the western city of Misrata, as the new prime minister. Their position gained the endorsement of Haftar whose forces control the country's east and most of the south, including major oil facilities.
Dbeibah has refused to step down and factions allied with him in western Libya deeply oppose Haftar. They maintain that Dbeibah, who is also from Misrata with ties to its powerful militias, is working toward holding elections.
