Islamist pool party at the U.S. Embassy: Militia seize Libyan compound and post triumphant video of gunmen leaping into the water and giving guided tours

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Islamist militiamen stormed the residential annex of America's embassy in Tripoli on Sunday then took the time to give curious journalists in the Libyan capital a tour.

The group has taken up residence in the annex just over a month after diplomats fled to Tunisia over fears of mounting violence in the North African nation in recent months.

An Associated Press journalist walked through the U.S. Embassy compound Sunday after the Dawn of Libya, an umbrella group for Islamist militias, invited onlookers inside.  

Windows at the compound had been broken, but it appeared most of the equipment there remained untouched.

A commander for the Dawn of Libya group said his forces had entered and been in control of the compound since last week and are there to protect the compound from looters.

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Inside look: Pictured is the US embassy compound that was allegedly stormed by militiamen in Tripoli on Sunday

Intact: Pictured is the dining room of the US diplomatic compound in Tripoli. Members of the Libya Dawn group invited onlookers in to tour the reportedly 'stormed' compound on Sunday

Housesitting: The Libya Dawn members say they have taken over the compound to ensure that it's not looted by more extremist groups

Tripoli is witnessing one of its worst spasms of violence since Gadhafi's ouster. The militias, many of which originate from rebel forces that fought Gadhafi, became powerful players in post-war Libya, filling a void left by weak police and a shattered army

It comes near the two-year anniversary of the death of US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi. 

A video posted online showed men playing in a pool at the compound. In a message on Twitter, U.S. 

In a message on Twitter, U.S. Ambassador to Libya Deborah Jones said the video appeared to have been shot in at the embassy's residential annex, though she said she couldn't "say definitively" since she wasn't there.

"To my knowledge & per recent photos the US Embassy Tripoli chancery & compound is now being safeguarded and has not been ransacked," she wrote on Twitter. She did not immediately respond to a request to elaborate. State Department officials in Washington also declined to immediately comment. 

Tripoli is witnessing one of its worst spasms of violence since Gadhafi's ouster. The militias, many of which originate from rebel forces that fought Gadhafi, became powerful players in post-war Libya, filling a void left by weak police and a shattered army. 

Successive governments have put militias on their payroll in return for maintaining order, but rivalries over control and resources have led to fierce fighting among them and posed a constant challenge to the central government and a hoped-for transition to democracy.

Members of the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) Islamist militia gather at the US diplomatic compound in Tripoli after members of the group moved into the complex of several villas in southern Tripoli to prevent it from being looted, according to the faction

A member of the Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) Islamist militia holds a picture in the living room of a villa at the US diplomatic compound

Stronghold: The US Embassy in Tripoli is being safeguarded and has not been ransacked after Islamist militias moved into an annex of the complex, America's ambassador to Libya said today

Mounting violence: Pictured is the exterior of the villa, which diplomats evacuated in July over fears of mounting violence

The Dawn of Libya militia is not associated with the extremist militia Ansar al-Shariah, which Washington blames for the deadly assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, that killed Stevens and the three other Americans

The fighting prompted diplomats and thousands of Tripoli residents to flee. Dozens were killed in the fighting.

On July 26, U.S. diplomats evacuated to neighboring Tunisia under a U.S. military escort. The State Department said embassy operations would be suspended until the security situation improved.

The Dawn of Libya militia is deployed around the capital and has called on foreign diplomats to return now that the fighting has subsided. 

The Dawn of Libya militia is not associated with the extremist militia Ansar al-Shariah, which Washington blames for the deadly assault on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, that killed Stevens and the three other Americans. 

Meanwhile, in the eastern city of Benghazi, heavy clashes broke out between the forces of a renegade general and Islamist fighters on Saturday, killing at least 10 people and showering the airport with rockets, medical and military sources said.

Libya is being racked by factional violence as the armed groups which helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 turn their guns on each other in a struggle to dominate politics and the country's vast oil resources.

In Benghazi, forces of retired general Khalifa Haftar have been fighting Islamist brigades including Ansar al-Sharia.

Storming in: A Youtube user has posted this video which purportedly shows Islamist militiamen in the residential wing of the abandoned U.S. embassy in Libya's capital

Horsing around: One Dawn of Libya militiaman is seen here leaping from an embassy balcony down into the swimming pool below

Horsing around: One Dawn of Libya militiaman is seen here leaping from an embassy balcony down into the swim

Cool down: The Dawn of Libya militia is deployed around the capital and has called on foreign diplomats to return now that the fighting has subsided

On Saturday, Islamist forces were trying to seize the Benina area, home to a civilian and military airport under the control of Haftar's forces. They have already overrun several army camps this month.

Grad rockets hit the civilian airport, military sources and residents said. At least 10 soldiers from Haftar's forces were killed and 25 wounded, a hospital medic told Reuters.

Western powers worry Libya will become a failed state as a weak central government cannot control the competing armed groups in a country awash with arms.

Senior officials and the elected parliament have relocated to the remote eastern city of Tobruk after effectively losing control of the capital Tripoli, where an alliance of armed groups rules after expelling a rival force.

The new forces controlling Tripoli, led by brigades from the western city of Misrata, have helped install an alternative parliament and prime minister.

In a televised speech, Omar al-Hasi, not recognized as prime minister internationally, said his government wanted to lead Libya out of crisis and seek national reconciliation.

'We reject extremism and terrorism,' he said. 'I am not with a specific group, party, operation or city but stand for a government for all Libyans.'

'Not ransacked': The embassy, seen here in a file photo, was being 'safeguarded' and was not 'ransacked' according to ambassador to Libya Safira Deborah