By Maha Ellawati and Ahmed Elumami.
Benghazi and Tripoli, 26 June 2013:
A colonel in military intelligence serving in Benghazi was killed by . . .[restrict]a car bomb this morning.
Col Jumaa Misrati’s car exploded near the Dubai Street roundabout in the Majouri district. He was taken to the city’s Medical Centre with severe leg injuries and died shortly thereafter.
The spokesman for the Benghazi Joint Security Room Mohamed Hejazi told the Libya Herald: “We believe a bomb was put under the seat in Misrati’s car. It exploded at 10.15 am and he lost both legs in the blast”.
Hejazi said that security forces reacted rapidly and began a search for the bombers. At the moment their identity is unclear.
Misrati’s death is only the latest in a succession of murders of military personnel since the revolution. Some of the victims had served or were connected with the Qaddafi regime.
Few arrests have been made for these attacks and no prosecutions have been brought. Some suspect that many of the killings have been revenge attacks on figures from the old regime, while other believe the killers are Qaddafi regime supporters who are, as they see it, punishing individuals who chose to change sides and serve the February Revolution.
Earlier this year in the run-up to the second anniversary of the start of the Revolution, the GNC and the government established the Benghazi Joint Security Room, in which Hejazi worked, to tighten security and bring an end to the campaign of assassinations.
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