Al-Qaida affiliated militia men killed in Libya

Seven members of the al-Qaida- affiliated militia Ansar al-Sharia died in Libya's Sirte in an explosion on Monday, Libyan Deputy Defense Minister Khaled al- Sharif said Tuesday.

Al-Sharif said that the militants died after the ammunition that were packed in their vehicle blew up while they were driving.

Residents of Sirte, 450 km east of the capital Tripoli and hometown of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, were reluctant to give information about the presence of the Benghazi-based fundamentalist group there. However, reports indicate that Ansar al-Sharia has a training camp for combatants 15 kilometers west from downtown Sirte.

Accusations that the explosion came from a U.S. drone attack circulated shortly after the accident. However, Ansar al-Sharia released a statement on Tuesday denying it was a drone strike. These accusations come amid the general discontent that has gripped Libya since the U.S. disclosed it carried out a raid to capture the al-Qaida suspect Anas Abu al-Liby on Oct. 5.

The Ansar al-Sharia militia, created during the 2011 uprising in Benghazi that helped overthrow the former regime, is allegedly responsible for the attack on the American diplomatic mission in the eastern city of Benghazi in September 2012, which resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other U. S. diplomats.

Libya has witnessed a deterioration of security and an escalation of violence in the past few months. The Libyan government is struggling to suppress the proliferation of arms and militias in the country, which has increased in the last two years with the end of the Feb. 17 revolution.