BENGHAZI —  Local officials called for civil disobedience including strikes for three days from Tuesday, Nov. 26, in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi after deadly clashes between radical Islamist fighters and the army.

The call issued by Benghazi’s city council came as defense ministry officials, according to a source, were in talks with jihadist group Ansar al-Sharia to provide its fighters a safe passage out of the city on condition they leave their weapons behind.

People celebrate after Dubai won the right to host the 2020 World Expo, in front of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai November 27, 2013. REUTERS/Mohammed Omar

For several hours on Monday, the army clashed with the jihadists after one of its patrols was attacked near the headquarters of Ansar al-Sharia, a group blamed for the killing of the U.S. ambassador in 2012.

The health ministry said seven people were killed in the fighting and around 50 wounded, revising an earlier toll of eight dead.

The fighting subsided in the afternoon and later the army deployed across Benghazi, taking control of key roads, a correspondent reported.

Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 uprising during which NATO-backed rebels toppled and then killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Since the end of the uprising, Libya has been hit by waves of deadly violence much of it blamed on heavily armed ex-rebels who have banded into militias each with its own ideology and allegiance.

The government has been struggling to integrate the former rebels into a regular army and police.