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| Africa North |
| Fighters exchange fire in Tripoli |
| 2012-09-26 |
| Former Libyan rebel fighters seeking more recognition from the North African country’s new rulers briefly exchanged fire outside the national congress in Tripoli on Tuesday, members of the assembly said. Tuesday’s incident comes two days after Libya’s head of congress pledged to dissolve rogue militias who have refused to lay down their arms since the civil war that ousted longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi last year. Libyan leaders are trying to impose order on post-revolutionary armed groups in the wake of a fatal assault on the US consulate in Benghazi on Sept. 11, in which the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed. Underlining Libya’s precarious security, an argument during the demonstration outside the national congress boiled over into an exchange of gunfire. “They started fighting among each other, first just hitting each other and then exchanging fire,” congress member Nizar Kawan said, adding that some protesters were carrying banners saying “do not sideline the revolutionaries”. “Some of them were saying they should end the protest, others did not want to, and it escalated.” A second congress member, who declined to be named, said that politicians were evacuated to a nearby hotel. “Security forces asked congress members to leave the building,” he said. “Security forces closed off the area and started shooting in the air to stop the protesters.” |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Matches the assessment recently discovered in a diary. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2012-09-26 04:34 |