By Noora Ibrahim, Farah Waleed and Adam Ali.
Benghazi 12, October 2014:
Mohammed Al-Zahawi the leader of Ansar Al-Sharia in Benghazi is reported . . .[restrict]to have been wounded or even killed in clashes yesterday evening near Benina Airport.
Reliable sources told the Libya Herald they had received unconfirmed reports that Zahawi had been taken to Sirte’s Abin Sina Hospital to receive medical treatment.
A senior figure in Operation Dignity based in Tobruk said he had heard rumours that Zahawi had been injured or killed but could not confirm or deny the information.
Head of Saiqa Special Forces Investigations Unit Fadel Al-Hassi, who was on the ground during clashes both yesterday evening and this morning at Benina, also said he had no verified information on the condition of the Ansar Al-Sharia leader.
However Hassi explained some light skirmishes had taken place around the Airport yesterday evening with heavier fighting in the early hours of the morning.
He said three members of Saiqa had been killed in those clashes and four wounded. He added that the injured men had been taken to Marj hospital where their condition was stable.
Clashes in and around Benina have raged more or less constantly for the last ten days. Ansar Al-Sharia and its allies in the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council have been attacking Operation Dignity’s last remaining positions near the city at Benina.
This is not the first time that Zahawi has been reported killed. In June, rumours circulated that he had died while receiving treatment at Benghazi’s Jalaa Hospital. It later emerged he had been injured in the neck while fighting in Buatni.
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