By Noora Ibrahim, Aymen Amzein and Motaz Ahmed.
Benghazi, 3 May 2014:
Gunmen earlier this evening fired at Colonel . . .[restrict]Abdullah Al-Saiti, the head of Benghazi’s Joint Security Room (BJSR), according to BJSR officials. One of them told the Libya Herald this evening that Saiti had been attending a funeral and was driving along Venezia Street back to the BJSR offices when shots were fired at his convoy. He was unhurt.
The official claimed that the shots had come from the direction of the Venezia Street entrance of the 17 February Brigade’s headquarters and that the shooting was part of an attempt to kidnap Saiti.
There has been no comment so far from 17 February Brigade nor any evidence that the shots were fired from its premises.
A statement from Saiti is expected later, the BJSR said.
This is the second known attempt against him. In November, his convoy was hit in a car-bomb attack this morning that killed one of his bodyguards dead and seriously injured another.
Meanwhile, Benghazi’s security chief, Colonel Ramadan Al-Wahaishi was reported on TV today to have resigned following yesterday’s attack by Ansar Al-Sharia on the police and national security headquarters in which at least nine people died. The resignation is so far unconfirmed although Wahaishi’s home is said to have been one of the places attacked yesterday by Ansar Al-Sharia.
Otherwise Libya’s second city was tense but calm today.
The area in Hawari district around the police and national security headquarters, locally known as the Mudiriya and close to the headquarters of both the BSJR and 17 February Brigade, was blocked off to the public with an army tank brought in for protection in case of further attacks.
Elsewhere in the area, security was substantially increased with vehicles being stopped and searched at impromptu check points by the police and security forces.
A number of businesses in Venezia Street also reported today that they were ordered by the Security Room to shut. [/restrict]
