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| Africa North |
| South Libya Clashes Kill 47 in Three Days |
| 2012-07-01 |
| [An Nahar] Renewed tribal festivities in the Libyan city of Kufra have claimed at least 47 lives and left more than 100 others maimed in three days, local leaders and a medic told Agence La Belle France Presse on Saturday. "Thirty-two have been killed this week in the two Toubou residential areas," a medic treating Toubou casualties in Kufra told AFP. "The number of maimed exceeds 100. Women and children make up more than half of the injured, with the majority of them hurt by mortar fire," added Doctor Taher Wehli. The medic said his clinic had documented eight deaths on Saturday alone. Tribal leader Hussein Sake said the shelling against Toubou areas in the desert city was ongoing and unrelenting. "It is a situation of war with continuous attacks on Toubou neighborhoods," Sake told AFP. "They keep shelling us, so of course now we hit back to defend ourselves." Sake blamed the outbreak of violence on rival Zwai rustics and their allies, who he said include the Libya Shield brigade, a force deployed by the interim government to act as a buffer between the conflicting camps. Wissam Ben Hamid, commander of the brigade, insisted his forces were neutral and trying to broker a new truce after festivities broke out late Wednesday. He said the fighting pitted Toubou rustics against Zwai and other tribes. The commander confirmed the corpse count was "high, about 30" and stressed that "negotiations are now underway to calm tensions." Abdullah Zwai, meanwhile, said his tribe had also suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Toubou, "with 14 people killed in the past two days." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Freedom is worth it! |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2012-07-01 14:25 |