Libya plunged into chaos after the 2011 ouster and killing of dictator Muammar Qadhafi.

An explosion rocked the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi when a rocket struck a residential area, killing at least three people and causing panic among residents.

An Associated Press reporter saw three charred bodies carried from a three-floor residential building hit by the rocket in al-Sirti district of southeastern Benghazi. The blast blew out windows of shops and wrecked parked cars.

Benghazi has been the scene of some of the worst fighting in the past three years between Marshal Khalifa Hifter’s forces and Islamic militants and former rebels. Hifter is allied with the internationally recognised parliament in eastern Libya.

After three years of Hifter’s Dignity operation, only one Benghazi district, al-Sabri, remains in the hands of militants.