| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Hafter reacts swiftly to Gaem challenge: takes over Benghazi interior ministry, moves on Berses |
| 2017-11-12 |
| [Libya Herald] In a swift reaction to last night’s challenge from Government of National Accord (GNA) deputy interior minister Faraj al-Gaem, Khalifa Hafter has this morning taken over the interior ministry building in Benghazi. LNA units have also surrounded Berses, a predominantly Awagir area 60 kilometres to the east of Benghazi on the road to Marj, among whose fellow rustics Gaem is reported to have taken refuge. An officer in the LNA’s 106 Brigade, Lieutenant Mutaz Madi is said to have been killed in fighting at Berses. Two other LNA soldiers have been injured, possibly in the takeover of the interior ministry building in Budzira. It was a mortar attack yesterday afternoon on that same building which appears to have triggered Gaem’s ’phone call to 218 TV in which he demanded that Hafter should cede control of the armed forces to Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... commander Wanis Bukhamada and leave Benghazi with his sons. A Saiqa front man said last night that Bukhamada did not wish to be involved in the dispute. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "Bring me the head of |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-11-12 10:33 |