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| Africa North |
| At Least 17 Killed in Libya Arms Depot Blast |
| 2011-03-05 |
| [An Nahar] At least 17 people were killed Friday when a huge kaboom destroyed a military weapons depot outside Benghazi, the main city held by Libyan rebels fighting Moammar Qadaffy. Dr. Habib al-Obeidi in Benghazi's al-Jalaa hospital said the blast also hit a residential area. Witnesses on the scene, about 32 kilometers from downtown, said ambulances were rushing to the area and secondary kabooms caused two fire trucks to blow up. The cause of the blast was unclear. Obeidi said it apparently was triggered when people went into the storage facility to collect weapons, but others blamed pro-Qadaffy forces for triggering the blast. Residents living around 10 kilometers from depot reportedly felt the impact of the blast. "We have a huge kaboom in a weapons depot. We don't know if it was an air strike or sabotage," said Mustafa Gheriani, a front man for the rebels' national council set up in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city. "The whole town shook," he added. Residents said the military base is the main warehouse for weapons storage in the area. Rebels rising up against Qadaffy following revolutions in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia control much of eastern Libya and have made Benghazi their de facto capital in the fight against regime loyalists. Although the cause of Friday's blast was unclear, pro-Qadaffy forces have carried out air strikes targeting military bases overrun by rebels in the fight to reclaim fallen territory. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Was somebody on Qadaffy side smart, or was it the usual Arab propensity of playing with explosives? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2011-03-05 04:46 |