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Africa North

Two Libyan Policemen Injured in Clashes in Bani Walid

2022-11-23

[LIBYAREVIEW] A member of the Libyan Bani Walid Security Directorate, Mohammed Saleh said that two members of the Criminal Investigation Department were maimed in festivities with wanted criminals. Saleh told "Al Wasat" newspaper that the two security personnel were taken to General Hospital for treatment, and confirmed that their health condition remains stable. Saleh stated that the Security Directorate "declared a state of emergency and launched an extensive security operation inside the city to arrest the perpetrators, and refer them to the competent authorities to bring them to justice." Days ago, the Benghazi Security Directorate announced the arrest of members of a human smuggling network. The directorate said in a statement that a Sudanese human smuggler, who used to receive over 7,000 dinars from every migrant wishing to cross the Mediterranean to Italia was arrested. Most of the migrants colonists were Bangladeshis and Sudanese expatriate workers. According to the statement, the Security Directorate coordinated with one of the migrants colonists to lure members of the smuggling network. The boat used in smuggling operations was also confiscated after the arrest. The defendants confessed to carrying out about 20 operations by sea, across the shores of the Ganfouda and Dariana regions. Legal measures were taken against the accused, and they were referred to the Public Prosecution. Last week, Libyan security forces arrested a gang of foreigners on charges of arranging to smuggle a group of migrants colonists to Europe. The Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... Security Directorate said that the "forces of the Gharbi Police Station arrested a foreign gang, intending to smuggle a group of expatriate workers through one of the coastal ports." The directorate said that the members of the gang received $2,700 from each migrant for transporting them by rubber boats across the Mediterranean. The statement did not reveal the identity of the gang, nor their nationalities. The statement pointed out that a member of the investigation department "disclosed important information that contributed to developing a plan, and setting up a tight ambush to arrest the group." The accused have confessed to the charges, and the necessary legal measures have been taken against them.

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Arabia

Bahrain suspends opposition newspaper

2015-08-08

[Al Ahram] Bahraini authorities have suspended the country's main opposition newspaper, accusing it of threatening national unity and relations with other states, the official news agency BNA reported late on Thursday. "The Information Affairs Authority has temporarily suspended Al Wasat newspaper until further notice," BNA reported. "This is due to its violation of the law and repeated dissemination of information that affects national unity and the kingdom's relationship with other countries," it said, without elaborating. Al Wasat, Bahrain's only independent daily, was briefly closed in 2011, and its senior staff removed and prosecuted, in the aftermath of anti-government protests in the Gulf island kingdom. The paper is headed by Mansoor al-Jamri, who was one of three senior editors tried on charges of fabricating news when the paper was reporting the protests, led by the Shi'ite Moslem majority against the Sunni ruling family's government. Jamri was brought back as editor-in-chief later in 2011. Bahrain, which hosts the US Fifth Fleet, has experienced sporadic turmoil since demonstrators erupted into the streets that year demanding reforms and a bigger role in government. That revolt was put down with military help from Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... .

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Africa North

Bani Walid without petrol ten days and counting

2015-04-15

[Libya Herald] Bani Walid residents are in the throes of another fuel crisis, its petrol stations not having received deliveries of fuel in ten days. All seven petrol stations in the town have been forced to shut down, having no fuel to offer motorists. For now residents must buy petrol in Tarhuna or another nearby town. A station owner was quoted by Bawabat Al Wasat yesterday that the decision to cut off fuel to the town was intentional and had come from Brega Marketing Company, but this has not been verified. In contrast to the report, Berga is still supplying Derna with petrol despite the Libyan army's efforts to maintain an economic stranglehold over the town. Bani Walid's swelling population, due to the arrival in March of displaced families from Sirte, Aziziya, Zawia and Warshefana, has only intensified the problems that the shortage has caused residents, the Libya Herald was told.

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Africa North

Explosion in Misrata kills one as battles between IS and Dawn continue

2015-03-17

[Libya Herald] One Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... combatant has been killed in a Misrata boom-mobile kaboom, believed to have been retaliation for attacks on Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) positions in Sirte yesterday. The bomb went kaboom! outside a 166 Battalion base in the Libya Dawn stronghold last night. The only casualty from the attack has been identified as Mahmoud Al-Shaoush, a member of the battalion, Rooters news agency reported. The online news portal Bowabat Al-Wasat claimed the blast originated from a gold Hyundai which had been parked outside the brigade headquarters for several hours before the kaboom. While no group has come forward to claim responsibility for the bombing, yesterday 166 Battalion said it had inflicted heavy casualties on Islamic State in Sirte. It was the first time Misratan forces had clashed with the bad boy group. However, we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by... IS has said it orchestrated another kaboom on a Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... police checkpoint last night. It made the claim on social media, posting a picture of the site. Initial reports of one individual killed in the attack and five maimed have since increased to two dead and five maimed. Meanwhile, ...back at the laboratory the smoke and fumes had dispersed, to reveal an ominous sight... a series of pictures have been posted on pro-Islamic State websites claiming to show the destruction of one of 166 Battalion's camps in Sirte. There have been unconfirmed reports of sporadic festivities inside the town today. The Pro-Dawn Libya Observer has claimed that 166 Battalion forces killed six IS fighters at a checkpoint in Sirte's southern Abu Hadi district. Studies at Sirte University have been suspended in light of the security deterioration over the last two days. In a statement, a group identifying itself as the "Joint Force of Misrata Brigades" has said it will embrace the decision by the rump General National Congress (GNC) to create a national guard. It said the proposal was a an "important step towrads building a national army including all the honourable rebels who aim to protect goals of 17 Feb revolution". The brigades supplied their own list of eight criteria for the leaders of such a force, explaining: "The national guards should be headed by national figures who do no relate to political parties, as some parties propagandise and promote controversial figures." The statement may be an effort by Misratan forces to distance themselves from IS whose presence they had, up until now, permitted in Sirte. Misratan Libya Dawn forces claimed to have killed 17 Islamic State fighters and lost two of their own, in yesterday's fierce battles in Sirte. In recent months IS forces have established bases in Sirte, Derna and Nawfilya, a small settlement south-east of Sirte. In February IS in Sirte posted images showing the execution of 21 Christians, 20 from Egypt, apparently on the Sirte shoreline. Egypt launched retaliatory air strikes. Earlier this month gunnies, believed to be IS, beheaded 8 Libyan guards and kidnapped 9 foreign hostages from Al-Ghani oilfield, south east of Sirte.

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Africa North

Red Crescent sends relief aid to Kikla as fighting continues in Warshefana area

2014-11-05

[Libya Herald] Fighting is still taking place in the Warshefana area between mainly Zintani forces linked the Libyan National Army and those supporting Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... . The festivities are said to have been concentrated today at a small village named Al-Kasart, south of Aziziya but before the Jebel Nafusa escarpment. Meanwhile the Red Islamic Thingy has managed to send aid including medicines and water to the temporary field hospital in Kikla where fighting also continues although Zintani forces again claim they are in control of much of the mountain town. According to Colonel Ajmi Al-Atiri, one of the Zintani commanders, his forces seized an education building in the centre of the town yesterday. The hospital has been suffering acute shortages of not only medicines and medical equipment but also of staff able to deal with the emergency. The Red Islamic Thingy in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... is said to be trying to open a safe passage to the town which is entirely surrounded by Zintani and Libyan Army forces to enable humanitarian aid to get through. At least 142 people are reported to have been killed in Kikla since the fighting started three and half weeks ago and another 518 maimed, according to Buwabat Al-Wasat. It quoted a doctor at the hospital saying that the figure was only those fighting for Libya Dawn. He did not know the number of dead or maimed among the Zintanis and the army. The fighting appears to have again intensified in and around the strategically important town which, through firepower, can control a number of roads in and out of the Jebel. On Saturday, it was reported that 12 people had been killed in fighting in the area. This is said to have risen to 20 dead by Sunday evening. It is impossible to known exactly what is happening in both Kikla and the Warshefana district, other than that fighting is still taking place. There are no independent journalists in the area and both sides are presenting the news to suit their own purposes.

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Africa North

Tawerghans flee fighting in Benghazi as suicide bomber kills four in Buhdeima

2014-10-19

[Libya Herald] Almost the entire population of Garyounis and neighbouring Bu Sneib have now fled because of continued shelling in the area. This includes all the Tawerghans at a refugee camp in Garyounis. "Some 510 Tawerghan families at the Garyounis camp fled to Gemenis and Ajdabiya" Abdulrahman Al-Shikshak, head of Tawergha Local Council based in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... , told the Libya Herald. Some Tawerghans had been maimed as a result of the shelling, he said, and it had caused chaos and panic. "Missile shrapnel caused injuries to some people, but not serous injuries," Shikshak said. A massive fire at the camp last night, following the evacuation, has since been reported, causing considerable damage and likely to make any immediate return impossible. "The families are now staying in five schools in Gemenis and the rest have gone to Ajdabiya seeking shelter," Shikshak explained. Gememis Municipal Council met yesterday to organise how best to provide accommodation, food and medical attention for the Tawerghans. Shikshak's own council too is now urgently seeking funds to help to its refugees across the country but, according to him, does not know where to ask. "We are in need for financial support to aid our refugees, and we torn as who to ask." Tawerghan refugees are spread throughout Libya having been forced out of their town at the end of the revolution because of its support for Qadaffy and involvement in the siege of Misrata For his part, the director of the Benghazi branch of the Libyan Authority for Relief and Humanitarian Assistance, Mohammed El Atram, was quoted by Buwabat Al-Wasat saying that the entire population of Garyounis and Bu Sneib had fled as had most residents in Majouri. His organization was starting a full list of all those who had been displaced by the heavy fighting in the city, he said. Meanwhile last night, a jacket wallah went kaboom! and killed three civilians at a roadblock in Buhdeima. The attack is believed to be in Dire Revenge for the murder by local vigilantes of a Buhdeima family of Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... supporters. Following the death of Abdel Salem Ben Sweidi and his three sons Mustafa, Khaled and Ibrahim, rubbed out in their home on Wednesday morning, the Benghazi Revolutionaries' Shoura Council reportedly threatened to avenge it. Those killed in the suicide kaboom have been named as Majdi Al-Orabi, Adel Al-Falah, Said Al-Hassouni. Their bodies and the remains of the suicide bomber were taken to Benghazi Medical Centre. A fourth man gravely maimed in the attack was also taken there. It is reported that until last night, the BMC has received 47 bodies from the fighting since it began three days ago - 20 of them yesterday alone.

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Africa North

Authorities rush to deny Egyptian involvement in Benghazi airstrikes

2014-10-17

[Libya Herald] Libyan and Egyptian authorities have both rushed to deny Cairo's involvement in Arclight airstrikes on Benghazi as pro-government forces routed a key Islamist base in the city. Spokesmen for Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, Alaa Youssef, categorically denied that Egypt had played a role in bombing missions over Libya, Egyptian state media reported. Youssef's brief statement was made less than an hour after reports to the contrary from News Agency that Dare Not be Named began circulating. The agency cited two unnamed Egyptian officials as saying "the use of the aircraft was part of an Egyptian-led campaign against the forces of Evil that will eventually involve Libyan ground troops recently trained by Egyptian forces". They said the operation was requested by the government in Tobruk. "This is a battle for Egypt not Libya," one of the bigwigs was quoted as saying. "Egypt was the first country in the region to warn against terrorism and it is also the first to fight it," he added. Libyan Authorities also flatly rebuffed claims of Egyptian involvement. The Commander of Operation Dignity's Airforce, Adam Saqr Geroushi, told the Libya Herald that the operations yesterday in Benghazi had been carried out in totality by Libyans, refusing to comment on the matter further. His son, Tareq Geroushi, a member of the House of Representatives for Benghazi, had told News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Egyptian warplanes were being used in raids over Benghazi, but that they were being flown by Libyan pilots. He said the planes were "rented" by the Libyan administration from Egypt. Another senior military official, who asked not to be named, told this newspaper cryptically that it would be "surprising" if the Egyptians were involved secretly but then at this late stage decided to make it public. He said he could not confirm that Egyptian warplanes were aiding the Tobruk government. Representative for Misrata Fathi Bashaga, who leads the group of parliamentarians boycotting the House of Representatives, has meanwhile said if the accusations of Egyptian involvement in the attacks are true, it would change the current situation fundamentally. Buwabat Al-Wasat reported that Bashaga had stated the boycotters would have to reconsider their position with regard to the UN-sponsored dialogue started in Ghadames and that the UN should make clear their position with regard to Egyptian aggression. This is not the first time Egypt has been implicated in Arclight airstrikes on Islamist held positions in Libya. In August, US officials said Egypt had been helping the UAE carry out bomber missions on Libya Dawn ...aka Fajr Libya, the Islamist operation launched to counter that of General Khalifa Haftar (Operation Dignity). It is made up of the Libya Shield militia (Misrata and Moslem Brotherhood), Libya Revolutionaries Operations Room (Moslem Brotherhood), and Tripoli Brigade (close to Abdul Hakim Belhaj, head of Al-Watan party). Financing and moral support come from Turkey and Qatar... forces in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... .

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Africa North

As many as 30 killed in Benghazi suicide attacks

2014-10-03

[Libya Herald] Some 30 soldiers were killed and as many 80 maimed in this morning's suicide kabooms at Benina airbase. The initial double-bombings were the opening phase of an attack by Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council (BRSC) which lasted into the afternoon, Buwabat Al-Wasat reported. In the aftermath, another suicide kaboom reportedly took place targeting an Operation Dignity checkpoint east of Benghazi. Again, Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... and its allies have been implicated in the bombings. Medical sources said that 23 injured members of the BRSC were taken to Hawari Hospital for treatment. Hawari has long been held by Ansar al-Sharia and its supporters. As many as 62 maimed members of Operation Dignity were received at Marj Hospital in the aftermath of the festivities. Military sources have said that the fighting which took place on the Airport Road and its approach today was some of the heaviest seen in Benghazi. The area has been the scene of frequent battles between Operation Dignity and BRSC forces since the end of Ramadan. Benina and a nearby air defence unit base remain the most important positions still held by Operation Dignity forces in Benghazi. Despite the ferocity of the attack, Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... , loyal to Operation Dignity, appear to have retained control of the airport.

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Africa North

Six killed in battles between Derna's rival Islamists

2014-09-24

[Libya Herald] At least six members of Derna's rival Islamist brigades were killed in fighting on Sunday as tensions flared between the town's Abu Saleem Martyrs' Brigade and the Islamic Youth in Derna. The town today appears to have returned to what has become normality there for more than a year. Over the past twelve months its radical Islamist brigades have closed the local council, taken control of the court building and liquidated whatever remnants of the town's security forces remained. Four members of Abu Saleem Martyrs' brigade, one Islamic Youth in Derna militiaman along with a civilian perished in the festivities which began on Sunday evening and continued into the early hours of yesterday the morning, Bowabat Al-Wasat reported. Those killed from the Martys' Brigade were identified as Mustafa Salim Sayegh, Saleh Attia Erhim, Salem Attia Erhim and Maher Al-Masmari. Masmari was critically injured in the fighting on Sunday and later died in hospital from his wounds. Saad Tagouris was Islamic Youth's only reported dead. The civilian, whose name has not yet emerged, was apparently killed outside Derna Hospital when shots were fired into a crowd which had gathered there. The Islamic Youth in Derna rose to prominence in the town in early April, as a result of the amalgamation of three radical Islamist groups in the area including the Army of the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Libya. The establishment of Islamic Youth started a power-struggle with rivals. It has since carried out two separate public executions in the Derna, for which it has gained notoriety, though not control, since the Abu Saleem Martyrs' brigade is still seen to hold the balance of power in the town. Operation Dignity, which has said it is intent on fighting terrorism, wherever it may be in Libya, has said that during Sunday's festivities it carried out Arclight airstrikes on ships attempting to enter Derna's port. On a number of occasions the forces loyal to General Khalifa Hafter have launched Arclight airstrikes on vessels believed to be carrying weapons and ammunition into the town.

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Africa North

Libya Dawn rejects ceasefire attempts

2014-09-07

[Libya Herald] A delegation from the House of Representatives has failed in repeated bids to broker a ceasefire between militias fighting in and around Tripoli. ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... It is being claimed that there have been no less than 26 separate attempts to talk to Libyan Dawn representatives, all of which have been rebuffed. The group was made up of 13 representatives from the HoR Ceasefire Committee set up on 17 August. House member Sallah Al-Sahbi told the Arabic language newspaper Buwabat Al-Wasat, they had been trying to negotiate the ceasefire and convince Libya Dawn

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Africa North

Libya Officer Killed, Family Wounded when Car Explodes

2014-04-10

[An Nahar] A Libyan air force officer was killed Wednesday, and his wife and daughter seriously injured, when a bomb placed under his car went kaboom! in the eastern city of Benghazi, officials said. In a separate incident, a jihadist leader was killed in the eastern town of Derna, which has been a stronghold of radical Islamist groups since the 2011 uprising that ended Muammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years until he was ejected from the gene pool by his indignant citizens... 's four-decade rule. Benghazi was the cradle of the revolution that ousted Qadaffy, and has since been plagued by violence that has killed dozens of members of the security forces, judges and foreigners. And Wednesday was the fourth day of a general strike to denounce the lack of security, as well as to call for the suspension of parliament and early elections. Abdelhamid Tahar al-Imam, whose rank was not given, "was mortally maimed by the kaboom," a source at the Benghazi Medical Center said. "His wife and daughter, who were accompanying him, were gravely maimed and are in intensive care," he added. A security source said the bomb was underneath the car, but did not say if it detonated when Iman started the engine or as he was driving. The kaboom occurred in the center of the city, and angry residents blocked streets and set tires on fire in protest. The jihadist leader, identified as Ali Ben Tahar, was bumped off by unknown assailants while driving in his car with his brother, who fled, according to the Al-Wasat website, which published a death certificate. Other media outlets also reported the death, and purported pictures of Ben Tahar's perforated carcass appeared on social media. Al-Wasat said that, on Friday, Ben Tahar took part in a heavily armed parade through Derna by a hardline Islamist group. The group, calling itself the "Majlis Shura of Islamist Youth in Derna," said on Facebook that it intended to take over responsibility for security in the town and impose Islamic sharia law there. Libya's weak central government has struggled to impose order over the plethora of rebel brigades that emerged during the 2011 uprising, including jihadist groups, who remain heavily armed and are often a law unto themselves.

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Africa North

Pupils in Sirte to wear the hijab under Awqaf ruling

2014-03-04

[Libya Herald] Female pupils in Sirte are to wear mandatory hijabs under an order issued by the town's Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs office. Primary and secondary school students are obliged, under the new ruling, to wear the Islamic jalabia and a scarf covering their hair. News agency Al-Wasat reported that the decision was made under pressure from Ansar Al-Sharia which, it claimed, had influence within Sirte's education authority. The ruling has provoked mixed reactions on social media networks with some welcoming the move and others claiming it is the first step in turning Libya into a more Islamic state. Some criticised the move as restricting women's freedom, pointing out that such freedom was one of the principal goals of the 17 February Revolution. It's always first the Menshaviks, but then the Bolsheviks sweep all in blood before them.

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