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| Africa North |
| Shootings Rattle Libya's Restive East |
| 2013-12-03 |
| [An Nahar] A Libyan security forces member was killed Monday in the eastern city of Benghazi and four people were maimed in nearby Derna when gunnies fired on a protest against insecurity, officials said. Benghazi -- cradle of the 2011 uprising that toppled long-ruling autocrat Muammar Qadaffy ...The late megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... -- has seen a string of attacks on security forces in recent days following deadly festivities between the army and a jihadist militia known as 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 Libya, Tunisia and Yemen, with the Libyan and Tunisian versions currently most active... In the nearby city of Derna, long seen as a bastion of support for hardline Islamist groups, four people were maimed when gunnies opened fire on a protest against "extremism and insecurity," according to a local hospital source. Unknown gunnies rubbed out Mosbah al-Kabaeli in Benghazi's city center, said Hussein Ben Hamid, an official with his unit, which is under the authority of the defense ministry. Al-Jala hospital confirmed the death of the 21-year-old, who was shot in the head. On Sunday night, a charity clinic run by Ansar al-Sharia was struck by a roadside kaboom, a member of the group told Agence La Belle France Presse on condition of anonymity, adding that no one was hurt in the attack. Libya's weak central government has struggled to assert control over scores of militias made up of former rebels who helped topple Qadaffy. A week ago deadly festivities erupted between the heavily armed Ansar al-Sharia and Libyan troops in Benghazi, with seven people killed and more than 50 maimed. Ansar al-Sharia is suspected of being behind the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 that left the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans dead. The group has denied any involvement in the incident, however, and on Monday a leader of Ansar al-Sharia also denied the group had any links to al-Qaeda. "We have no connection to them... We are not part of al-Qaeda," Mohammed al-Zehawi, its leader in Benghazi, told Libya's private al-Naba television. He insisted the group was focused on bringing about an Islamic state governed by sharia law in Libya. |
| Posted by:Fred |