The attack unfolded Thursday afternoon at Brak Al-Shati airbase, which since December has been under control of the Libyan National Army (LNA), rivaling the government in Tripoli. LNA, headed by General Khalifa Haftar, does not recognize the authority of the GNA and is linked to the rival House of Representatives (HoR), the country’s elected legislature, which operates from the city of Tobruk on Libya’s eastern Mediterranean coast.
The so-called Third Force militia, hailing from the city of Misrata, which is loyal to the UN-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj, launched an attack on the airbase as the LNA soldiers were returning from a military parade held there. The servicemen were not able to offer much resistance as they were unarmed, LNA spokesman Ahmad Al-Mimari said in a statement on Friday, as cited by AFP.
“Most of them were executed,” Al-Mimari said.
Misrata State Council member Begassem Igzeit called the killings an “irresponsible and heinous crime against Libyans.”
Medical officials at a local hospital said that people killed in the bloodshed died of a variety of causes, having their throats slit by militiamen, succumbing to burns or due to being run over by military vehicles.
Among those caught in the melee were also “innocent civilians,” Al-Mimari said, who lived nearby or were employed at the base.
Reuters reported Thursday that at least 60 people died in the attack, however, unverified reports of a much higher death toll were already circulating.
Third Force commander Mohamed Gliwan claimed responsibility for the attack, arguing that his people “liberated the base and destroyed all the forces inside,” in an interview to Lybian Al-Ahrar TV, as cited by Reuters.
[rt.com]
20/5/17
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Au moins 141 personnes, dont la plupart des soldats loyaux à l'homme fort de l'est libyen, le maréchal Khalifa Haftar, ont été tués dans une attaque menée par des groupes rivaux contre une base militaire dans le sud libyen.
ReplyDeleteSelon des sources militaires, la 3e Force, un puissant groupe armé de la ville de Misrata (nord), officieusement loyal au gouvernement d'union nationale (GNA), a mené jeudi une attaque contre la base aérienne de Brak al-Shati, contrôlée par l'Armée nationale libyenne (ANL) autoproclamée par le maréchal Haftar.
Ahmad al-Mesmari, porte-parole de l'Armée nationale libyenne (ANL, autoproclamée par Haftar) a fait état vendredi soir de 141 morts et plusieurs blessés et disparus dans cette attaque.
Parmi les victimes figurent aussi des civils qui travaillaient sur la base ou qui se trouvaient aux alentours, a-t-il précisé au cours d'une conférence de presse.....AFP/rtl.be