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| Africa North |
| Anti-Islamist Commander Killed in East Libya |
| 2014-11-29 |
| [An Nahar] A Libyan commander in the forces of prominent anti-Islamist general Khalifa Haftar ... served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all... has been assassinated in the eastern city of Ajdabiya, military sources said Friday. "General Abdelmajid al-Zwei was killed on Thursday night by three gunnies," Colonel Ahmed al-Mesmari, front man for Haftar's forces, told AFP. He said that Zwei, who was also a relative of retired general Haftar, had shot up his assailants, one of whom was maimed and later died of his injuries. A medical source confirmed the two deaths. Islamist turbans frequently target army officers in restive eastern Libya, where Haftar has been waging a government-backed campaign against militias to wrest back control of Libya's second city of Benghazi. At least 356 people have been killed since the offensive was launched in October, according to medical and security sources. |
| Posted by:Fred |