Eight children were injured when a shell struck a residential neighborhood in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, according to local health authorities on Saturday.

In a statement, Al-Jalal Hospital in Benghazi said the children, aged between seven and 16, sustained moderate and critical injuries in the attack that occurred on Friday in the city's Zamzam neighborhood.

The statement did not specify the group behind the attack.

Benghazi is controlled by militias affiliated with putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar.

On Thursday, local authorities in Benghazi found 11 bodies with signs of torture and gunshot wounds.

Benghazi is roiled by insecurity amid reports of abuses against civilians by Haftar's militias.

Since April 2019, Haftar's illegitimate forces have launched attacks on the capital Tripoli and other parts of northwestern Libya, resulting in thousands of civilian deaths.

The president of Libya's recently elected transitional government, Mohammed Menfi, arrived in eastern Benghazi last month to promote national unity ahead of the elections in December.

Following the Feb. 5 decision, Libya can now look to its new interim government to lead during its transition phase until the December elections, ending a decade of chaos in the post-Moammar Gadhafi era.

During the meeting, Haftar stated his backing of the new transitional authorities and his support for a "peaceful and democratic alternation of power" in Libya, according to a statement released by his office.