Seven fighters have been killed and six others wounded from the eastern forces of the self-styled army led by Khalifa Haftar in renewed clashes southern Derna with fighters from Derna Shura Council, local media reported a medical source from the field hospital in Qubba district.

Meanwhile, sources from Derna reaffirmed that heavy fighting and artillery shelling took place Thursday morning as Al-Mukhtar operations room forces tried to advance on the city.

Al-Mukhtar operations room has been tasked by warlord Khalifa Haftar to encircle Derna and conduct attacks on the city's Shura Council fighters.

In the meantime, the spokesman for the Derna Shura Council, Mohammed Al-Mansouri said they were able to foil the attack and to shell locations for Haftar's forces by heavy artillery fire.

"Derna attack has not been given the go-ahead yet. Our forces are well-prepared for it." The spokesman for the self-styled army in east Libya, Ahmed Al-Mismari, said in a presser Wednesday.

He explained that "liberation of Derna" is looming.