France on Wednesday urged Egypt to continue its path towards democracy, as visiting president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi sought to restore his country's reputation with his first European tour after a deadly crackdown on opponents.

"We want the process to continue, a process of democratic transition which respects the roadmap and allows Egypt to succeed fully," said French President Francois Hollande at a joint news conference after talks with Sisi.

A new air strike hit the Libyan capital's sole operational airport on Tuesday, a day after a raid claimed by forces loyal to a prominent anti-Islamist general, witnesses said.

Mitiga air base, in an eastern suburb of Tripoli, has been the city's only working airfield since damage from heavy fighting forced the closure of its civilian airport in July.

An air raid on Monday targeted the runway of the Libyan capital's only working airport, witnesses and an airport security source said.

A low-flying fighter jet fired two missiles at Mitiga airport, which is in an eastern suburb of Tripoli and held by Fajr Libya, an anti-government Islamist militia coalition which controls the capital, witnesses said.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday added to its terror list a Libyan Islamist group accused of involvement in the 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi that killed the ambassador and three other Americans.

The council blacklisted Ansar al-Sharia for its ties to al-Qaida, slapping an arms embargo, assets freeze and global travel ban on the extremists at the request of Britain, France and the United States.

The United States Wednesday said it was "concerned" about reports that radical extremists with avowed ties to the Islamic State are destabilizing eastern Libya.

"We are closely monitoring the situation and are concerned by the destabilizing threat that militias and terrorist groups pose to the Libyan people and government," said State Department spokesman Jeffrey Rathke.

An Italian engineer kidnapped in Libya in March has been freed and flew home overnight, the foreign ministry announced Sunday.

No details were released of how Gianluca Salviato, 48, came to be liberated days after another Italian, Marco Vallisa, 54, was freed after four months in the hands of abductors.

At least 340 people have been killed in fighting for Libya's second city Benghazi since the launch of a government-backed offensive against Islamist militias a month ago, medical sources said Saturday.

More than 200 of the dead have been soldiers -- either members of the regular army or loyalists of controversial retired general Khalifa Haftar, the Red Crescent and hospital sources said.

Libya on Friday released nine Turks who had been captured by the army and handed them over to representatives from Ankara, a government statement said.

The men had been captured by troops in the embattled eastern city of Benghazi, where former general Khalifa Haftar has launched an offensive against Islamist militants.

An Italian construction engineer abducted in Libya four months ago has been freed and is on his way home, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

The ministry provided no details of how Marco Vallisa, 54, came to be liberated.

Two car bombs struck near the shuttered Egyptian and United Arab Emirates embassies in Libya's militia-controlled capital within minutes of each other Thursday, an AFP correspondent and a UAE official said.

Two guards posted outside the empty Egyptian embassy compound were wounded in the first blast, Libya's LANA news agency reported.