By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab and Houda Mzioudet.
Tripoli, 28 September 2013:
An elderly sick mother and her daughter were brutally murdered late last night . . .[restrict]at a fake checkpoint while being taken by ambulance from Zintan to Tripoli. The elder woman’s sister was seriously wounded in the attack as was the ambulance driver, but both survived.
The women were on their way to hospital in Tripoli after the mother had become ill in Zintan. She had initially gone to Zintan hospital. However the hospital, struggling because of a lack of equipment and staff, decided she needed to be transferred to Tripoli. Her daughter and sister accompanied her in the ambulance. According to a spokesman for Zintan Local Council, they were stopped at a fake checkpoint at Bir Al-Ghanam, near Zawia, and shot there.
Exactly what happened and who was involved is still unclear. The ambulance driver was only found this morning. The authorities are waiting to hear from him and the sister to piece together a picture of events.
Members of the Wershafana tribe were initially blamed but this has been since denied. According to the Zintan council spokesman, though, there have been a number of attacks on Zintanis in recent days. [/restrict]
