World Bulletin/News Desk

Egypt has denied reports that its warplanes bombed sites belonging to militias in Libya's eastern Benghazi city.

Presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef dismissed media reports that Egyptian warplanes had struck targets in Libya, according to the official MENA news agency.

Forces loyal to former army chief-of-staff Khalifa Haftar also denied Egyptian involvement in the airstrikes in Benghazi.

"Reports about the participation of Egyptian warplanes in attacks on sites of extremist groups are untrue," Pro-Haftar air commander Saqr al-Garrouchi said.

Associated Press news agency earlier quoted two unnamed Egyptian officials as saying that Egyptian planes had struck sites of militias in eastern Libya.

The two officials said that the strikes "were part of an Egypt-led operation against armed militias in Libya that also included Libyan ground forces".

But Libyan lawmaker Tareq al-Garrouchi said that the Egyptian planes that allegedly struck the Islamist sites were flown by Libyan pilots.

"The Egyptian government has given four warplanes to the Libyan army command two weeks ago as part of Egypt's support for the Libyan army in fighting terrorism," he told Anadolu Agency.