TRIPOLI: A renegade general who has launched an assault against radicals in Benghazi warned Libya had become a “terrorist hub,” calling for a civilian presidential high council to form an emergency Cabinet and organize legislative elections.

Claiming to speak in the name of the army, Khalifa Hiftar Wednesday urged the country’s highest judicial authority “to form a civilian presidential high council tasked with forming an emergency cabinet and organizing legislative elections.”

Hiftar, who was once one of slain dictator Muammar Qaddafi top generals before falling from grace and going into US exile, was reading a statement broadcast on several Libyan networks.

He returned to support the rebellion in 2011 but has this year emerged as the most serious challenge to the post-Qaddafi authorities born of the rebellion.

“Libya has become a hub for terrorists who control power,” said Hiftar, who has been branded an outlaw by the authorities after launching an assault in Benghazi on Friday in which at least 79 people were killed.

Speaking from the eastern town of Al Abyar, he said the presidential council he envisions would hand over power to an elected parliament.

Hiftar's supporters include an elite special forces unit of the regular army in Benghazi, who have suffered mounting losses in suspected jihadi attacks in the eastern city. Police brigades, officers at Tobruk air base and the powerful Al-Baraassa tribe from the east have also declared support for Hiftar.