Tripoli, 17 January 2013:
A member of Battalion 14 of Tripoli’s SSC support units was found murdered yesterday, Wednesday. He had been kidnapped the . . .[restrict]previous evening while on duty in Tripoli’s Suq Al-Juma district.
The body of the man, who has been named Hisham Taqazi, was found near a mosque on the 20 Ramadan Road (formerly 11 June Road) in Suq Al-Juma. He is said to have come from the same Tripoli suburb.
His death is seen as a reprisal against the battalion which is one of the special SWAT units ‘Quat Rida al Khaasa’ that are used by the Interior Ministry to combat drugs.
It was a Rida unit that arrested the alleged drugs dealer Najmi Al-Abani a fortnight ago and who subsequently who died in suspicious circumstances. Abani’s death resulted in violent clashes in Tripoli in which five other people died. The incident is now the subject of an official enquiry.
According to the deputy leader of Suq Al-Juma’s local council, Riad Khalil, “the authorities have arrested a suspect and he is under investigation at the moment.” [/restrict]
