By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 31 August 2014:
Yesterday’s attack on Tripoli’s Al Falah Tawerghan camp by Libya Central Shield forces has forced . . .[restrict]all displaced persons exiled there to flee.
“The camp is empty now; the residents have fled. Some have gone to the West, some have gone to Beni Waleed and the rest are staying with relatives inside Tripoli,” Tripoli’s Tawergha Local Council head Abdelrahman Al-Shikshack told the Libya Herald.
“The attack was ruthless,” Shikshack added. “They terrorised children and the elderly, killing one person and leaving three others seriously wounded.
According to Shikshack, by this evening, no one from the government had yet contacted anyone within the Tawerghan community to offer condolences or help.
The council has blamed the attack was blamed on Misrata-led “Libya Dawn”. It has condemned it as a “cowardly” act and has vowed to cooperate with the Security Directorate to “track down the perpetrators and bring them to justice”.
However according to Libya Dawn, it was actually Libya Central Shield forces from Misrata that stormed the camp.
Nearly 30,000 Tawerghans–the whole community–were displaced from their homes in the town of Tawergha just outside Misrata after the 2011 Revolution. Allegedly pro-Qaddafi and involved on the old regime’s bloody assault of Misrata, the townspeople were pushed out of the area by Misratan Brigade. In February 2012, it was reported by Amnesty International that Tawergha was an empty, looted, burnt-out shell, guarded to prevent any inhabitants returning. Three years on, the Tawerghans continues to live in exile. [/restrict]