Tripoli, 10 June:
At least 29 people are now said to have been killed in the . . .[restrict]latest bout of fighting in the south eastern oasis town of Kufra between Tebus and government troops from the Libya Shield Brigade. Extra government forces are being flown to the town to contain the situation.
Of the 29 dead, 20 are Tebus according to Tebu Dr. Taher Wehli. The bodies of five of them were taken to the local hospital. Of the remaining nine dead, three were confirmed as members of the Shield Brigade by its commander Wissam Ben Hamid and the rest local civilians caught up in the clashes. Two of the dead Sheild Brigade members have been named as Ahmed Owdah Ahmed and Akram Sulaiman Sheikhi. One of the dead local residents has been named as Jouda Marei Muhammed.
Tebu leader Isa Abdul-Majid claims, however, said that 28 of his people have died in the latest fighting.
Fifty Tebus are also said to have been wounded so far as well as 12 members of the brigade.
In one incident, a mortar, said to have been fired by Tebus, hit a house resulting in a girl being seriously injured.
The fighting started on Friday night when, according to local officials, Tebu forces attacked the town. Tebus claim that it was the other way around, that the Shield forces attacked them first.
Sporadic clashes continued on Saturday and into the night. Early on Sunday morning at around 5 am, according to a local journalist with the Tadamon new agency, the Tebus brought in three small tanks which shelled the Shield Brigade’s headquarters. One of the tanks was said to have then been destroyed by Shield troops.
According to Tadamon, the fighting had by this last night spread to all areas of the town and resulted in a power outage. Water is also reported to be in short supply.
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