Tripoli, 30 July:
The army has said the assassination of Colonel Suleiman Buzraidah in Benghazi on Saturday evening was designed to undermine national . . .[restrict]security and create chaos in the country.
Buzraidah was killed by a single shot fired from a white Chevrolet while he was going to Isha prayers near his home in the city’s Al-Leithi district. He was rushed to Benghazi Medical Centre but died shortly afterwards. He was the latest in a number of senior figures who served the Qaddafi regime to have been killed in what appears to be a coordinated assassination campaign. However, in his case, he joined the revolution and is believed to have worked with the NTC.
In its statement, the Army General Staff also expressed condolences and sympathy to the family of the former intelligence officer.
So far some 12 people have been killed and rumours are rife in Benghazi of a shadowy vigilante death squad at work.
On Sunday, there was an attempt to kill General Khalifa Hafter, the commander of Libyan ground forces when gunmen fired on the convoy he was traveling in. Although this was an even more direct assault on national security, it is not known if the attack was connected to Buzraidah’s slaying.
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