Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
Tripoli, 15 June 2013:
The Grand Mufti, Sheikh Sadeq Al-Ghariani has sharply condemned the deadly assault on a Libyan Shield . . .[restrict]convoy ferrying vehicles to its base in Sebha, in which its commanding officer was killed in an ambush, along with three of the attackers.
He said that what grieved his heart was that hardly a day went by without an attack in some part of the country, which was costing Libya innocent lives.
He also noted that according to a member of the ambushed Sebha-bound convoy, no one from the Chief of Staff’s office, nor from the Ministry of Defence had either yet denounced the attack, or even commented upon it, let alone pledged to launch an investigation.
A militia group is being blamed for the ambush which happened on Friday in Kira, shortly after the formation had been delayed for two hours at a checkpoint in the town of Brak.
Ali Al-Abed from the Libyan Shield told the Associated Press that he believed the Zawia Martyrs’ Brigade had been responsible for the ambush. The Brak checkpoint had been manned by members of this militia who had demanded to see documentation. It is not yet clear whether the Libya Shield commander, Col Omar Salah complied or whether there was a tense stand-off.
Col Salah later died in the attack, giving rise to the suspicion that he may have been targeted because of his attitude to the militiamen during the long delay at the Brak checkpoint. Three attackers were also killed when the Libyan Shield troops returned fire. Three wounded soldiers and an unreported number of the assailants were taken to Tripoli for treatment, while at least two bodies were delivered today to the morgue in Bani Walid. [/restrict]
