Libyans are to elect a new parliament on Wednesday, in a vote seen as crucial for the future of a country hit by months of political chaos and growing unrest.

In the past few weeks, Libya has been rocked by a crisis that saw two rival cabinets jostling for power while violence raged in the east, where a rogue general is battling Islamists.

The suspected ringleader of the deadly 2012 assault on an American compound in Benghazi was planning new attacks on Americans, the United States says, defending the raid that captured the Libyan militant.

U.S. commandos seized Ahmed Abu Khatallah near the Libyan city of Benghazi on Sunday, drawing condemnation from Tripoli, which considers the stealth raid an infringement of its sovereignty.

U.S. commandos violated Libya's sovereignty when they seized the suspected ringleader of a deadly 2012 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Special forces carried out Sunday's stealth operation under cover of night, capturing Ahmed Abu Khatallah near Benghazi and spiriting him out of the country.

U.S. commandos have captured the suspected ringleader of a deadly 2012 attack on an American compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi, in a raid hailed by the White House as a triumph for justice.

Special forces, working with FBI agents, carried out Sunday's stealth operation in Libya under cover of darkness and withdrew without losses, though Washington was giving away few details.

An armed group has kidnapped Lebanese citizen Jerjes Rashed Rashed, 51, in the strife-torn Libyan city of Benghazi, asking for a million dollar ransom, Lebanon's National News Agency reported Sunday.

The agency said Rashed was abducted four days ago from his house in Benghazi. He was taken to an unknown destination.

Forces loyal to rogue Libyan general Khalifa Haftar clashed Sunday with Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi, killing four people and wounding nine, witnesses and a medic said.

The clashes were among the fiercest since Khalifa began his offensive against radical Islamist groups in Benghazi, dubbed "Operation Dignity," on May 16, when at least 76 people were killed.

Italian sailors have recovered 10 bodies of migrants after a rubber dinghy sank off the Libyan coast, Italy's navy said Saturday.

Thirty-nine migrants were rescued after the vessel sank Friday some 40 nautical miles from the Libyan coast, the navy said, adding that the search for survivors continued on Saturday.

A car bomb exploded at a police station in Libya's second city Benghazi late Wednesday, leaving the suicide bomber dead and five police officers injured, security officials said.

"A suicide attack took place Wednesday evening at the Berses post and, according to preliminary information, there are a number of victims of the explosion," local security service spokesman Ibrahim Al-Sharaa told AFP.

The head of the U.N. mission in Libya welcomed Monday's court ruling outlawing prime minister Ahmed Miitig's election but warned that the country's deeper political crisis was not over.

Tarek Mitri said at United Nations headquarters in New York that security, particularly in the east, had deteriorated, describing as "huge" the number of arms and ammunition across Libya.

Libya's supreme court Monday ruled as unconstitutional the election of premier Ahmed Miitig in a chaotic parliamentary session, ending a month-long political crisis that saw two rival cabinets jostling for power.

Miitig said he would respect the ruling, hailing the decision as a "boost for the conservation of the rule of law" in Libya.