Five people were killed and four others wounded in armed clashes following an allocation dispute in a residential complex in Libya, security sources said Monday.

"Armed clashes erupted two days ago between some residents in the town of Touche, following a dispute on the allocation of apartments in the residential compound recently built by the government," an officer of the national security forces told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

"In the two days of fighting five people were reportedly killed and four injured," he said.

The source said security forces were sent to Touche, 1,000 km south of Tripoli, on Sunday to restore order in the residential compound.

The mission might last longer as the tension was very high, he added.

Libya has witnessed a deterioration of security and an escalation of violence in the past few months. The government is struggling to suppress the proliferation of arms in the country, which has increased in the last two years after the fall of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.