By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 10 September 2014:
The death toll in the Warshefana area continues to rise as missiles rain down into it. Forty three . . .[restrict]people are reported to have been killed in shelling since Sunday and 67 injured, of whom 27 are said to be in critical condition. The dead are said be mostly civilians and to include 12 children and four women.
Yesterday, at least 13 people were reported killed, among them a family of five plus three neighbours when a shell hit their homes in Siyad. The previous day at least 12 were reported killed.
The area is surrounded by Libya Dawn forces which yesterday claimed that it was making progress on several front to capture it. They were moving kilometre by kilometre combing houses and farms, a Libya Dawn spokesman said.
Such shelling, however, may constitute war crimes according to the UN.
Much of it, a Warshefana official told the Libya Herald, has been coming from Zawian forces. He claimed that Zawian militia commander Shaaban Hadia, who heads Libyan Revolutionaries Operation Room and who is also known as Abu Obeida Al-Zawi, was responsible for most of it.
The source also said that Zahra hospital, the main medical facility in the area, was suffering from a shortage of medicines and medical supplies because of a blockade by Libya Shield Western forces.
Al-Zawi shot to prominence when he was arrested in Egypt in January on suspicion of involvement in terrorist activities. It resulted in the kidnapping of five Egyptian diplomats in Tripoli who were released only after he was freed.
Meanwhile, this afternoon the home of Mohammed Tantosh of the Warshefana Shoura Council was destroyed in a missile attack. [/restrict]