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Libyan Army recaptures 4 barracks in Benghazi
[ARABNEWS] Libyan Army special forces have seized back four barracks from armed Death Eater groups in the eastern city of Benghazi, a commander said on Friday, after two weeks of heavy fighting which has killed at least 210 people.The army, backed by forces of a former general and other fighters, have waged an offensive against Death Eater groups in Libya's second-largest city -- part of the chaos gripping the oil producer three years after the overthrow of Muammar Qadaffy ...who single-handedly turned a moderately prosperous kingdom into a dictator's fantasyland and was then murdered by his indignant subjects 42 years later... . Special forces commander Wanis Bukhamada told Rooters his forces controlled the eastern exit road from Benghazi and four camps, including the former army headquarters which it had lost with three others to the Death Eater in August. The army had already said it had expelled Islamists from the airport area and the Feb. 17 camp, one of their strongholds in the port city. "The army is controlling 80 percent of the city and is cleansing several area of members of Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... ," Bukhamada said, referring to a group blamed by Washington for a 2012 attack on the US consulate that killed the American ambassador. The army took a Rooters news hound on a tour to showcase what officers said was territory it now controlled. Residents said more army reinforcements had arrived in the past few days. Col. Mahdi Al-Barghathi, commander of a tank battalion, said fighters from Ansar al-Sharia had fled to the area of the seaport. Clashes continued in the west of the city, he added. At least 18 people died in the past two days, bringing the corpse count from two weeks of fighting to 210, medics said. The struggle is part of a wider conflict in the North African state where former rebels who helped oust Qadaffy are fighting for power and a share of the country's oil revenues. Libya is divided between rival tribes and political factions with two governments vying for legitimacy since an gang from the western city of Misrata seized Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... in August, forcing the internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni to move east. Posted by: Fred 2014-11-01 |
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