By Seraj Essul and Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 3 December 2013:
Tension remain high in Kufra following yesterday’s seizure by militiamen, said to be . . .[restrict]Tebus, of five members of the army from a desert checkpoint near the Sudanese border. According to the Libyan news agency LANA, there have been air patrols in the area around a military checkpoint, 430 kilometres southwest of Kufra, to try and track down the kidnappers.
All five seized men are from Kufra, the head of Kufra military Council, Colonel Suleiman Hamid, has said. They are also reported to be members of Kufra’s majority Zway community.
The kidnapping follows an incident four days earlier when, according to a local Kufra journalist Suleiman Alzwee. Tebu smugglers were coming from Sudan in three vehicles, two of which contained 50 illegal immigrants while the third was packed with arms. They came across an army checkpoint which they tried to avoid but were pursued. In the chase, all three vehicles were shot at and eventually destroyed, killing one of the Tebu occupants. The other four Tebus were caught and detained. According to LANA, two are Libyan, the other two Chadian.
The fate of the illegal immigrants has no been disclosed.
In retaliation, a group of Tebu smugglers yesterday attacked the Oweinat checkpoint, capturing the five border guards who, says the Kufra journalist, were then taken to the Tebu town of Rebyana, some 150 kilometres west of Kufra.
They have been named as Khaled Atiya Al-Hasi, Muntasser Ibrahim Ali Al-Majbari, Salah Mansur Bu Amirah, Salah Amjawr and Mansur Senussi Al-Tarhouni. A number of shepherds are also said to have been abducted.
According to LANA, two of the attackers’ vehicles were destroyed in the raid.
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