By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 24 August 2014:
Egypt and the Emirates were responsible for bombings on Islamist positions in Tripoli . . .[restrict]the Misratan-led Operation Libya Dawn has claimed.
Libya Dawn said the airstrikes, carried out both yesterday and on Monday, were orchestrated by the two nations. It called for Libya’s international partners, including the UN and the Arab League, to begin legal proceedings against Egypt and the UAE for violating Libyan sovereignty.
The operation also accused the House of Representatives for colluding with the foreign countries, reiterating its claim that the Tobruk-based legislature had no legitimacy.
Fifteen people were killed and 30 wounded in yesterday’s attack.
Egypt has firmly denied any involvement in the raids. “There are no Egyptian troops or planes in Libya and no Egyptian military action ion Libyan territory”, Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi said this afternoon. Earlier the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called the reports of Egyptian action “baseless allegations”.
The Egyptians, along with the Algerians, had already denied responsibility for Monday’s raid, as had the Italians, British, French and Americans. It is the first time that the Emirates have been implicated in the bombings.
A member of the Misratan Military Council claimed yesterday that the Egyptian Air Force had carried out the Airport Road attack, claiming that a plane was spotted on the radar accompanied by an air fuel tanker.
In a statement last week the leader of the armed forces, Major General Abdussalam Obeidi, said no Libyan-based force had the technology or the capacity to carry out attacks of the type mounted in the past seven days.
Obeidi said the missiles used, one of which is said to have been identified as a US made Mark 83 general purpose bomb, could only have been dropped using in-flight targeting technology, unavailable to the Libyan air force. He added that the weapons had been used with extreme precision.
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