The United Nations Mission of Support in Libya (UNSMIL) has called on the NTC to provide greater security at the Janzour . . .[restrict]camp outside Tripoli, where seven people were murdered on Monday by unknown gunmen.
In response the head of the Temporary Security Committee of the Libyan National Army, Nayef Hassi, told the UN the incident at that the refugee camp was the work on isolated individuals. He pledged that the army and security forces would ensure the safety of the refugees, a statement later welcomed by UNSMIL.
Besides the dead, who included four children and two women, 19 others were wounded and two people seized and taken away in the attack on the Janzour Marine Naval Acadamy, which houses displaced people mostly from Tawergha.
The town, once home to 30,000 people, was mainly occupied by descendants of African slaves and was a rare bastion of support for Qaddafi during the uprising. It is now largely an empty, plundered ruin following fighting last year with militiamen from Misrata.
Camp inmates said the attackers arrived at 10am at the gates of the disused naval college in search of a number of young men from Tawergha. When the inhabitants of the camp gathered in protest, the intruders started firing randomly .
A camp resident, Huda Bel-Eid, said she had been shot in the leg. Her brother was shot in the head and neck. The bodies of two other camp residents, also shot, were later found on the beach
It is claimed the 15 attackers were members of a brigade from Misrata.
” We knew they were from Misrata because it was written all over their cars,” Huda is reported as saying.
However a spokesman for the Misrata Military Council, Fathi Bashaja, has rejected any connection. “No Misratans were involved,” he insisted.
For their part, Tawerghans deny they supported Qaddafi. They claim they were held hostage by his forces who then used the town to shell Misrata during the bloody three month siege of the rebel port. This is rejected by people in Misrata. There is a strong sense of bitterness there towards the inhabitants of Tawergha and there have been many reports in recent months of revenge attacks against them. At least 2,000 rebel fighters and civilians perished in the Misrata siege and 900 were seriously injured.
The clashes at the naval academy spilled over into the streets of Janzur, when a number of camp resident staged protests against the killings. According to the leader of Janzour Military Council, Abdelhafid Suleiman, violence erupted when local militiamen in charge of security in the area tried to take knives and other weapons from the protesting Tawerghans.
This is not the first time there has been violence at the camp. A month ago, the main highway running through Janzour was closed following fighting between residents and militiamen.
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