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By Adam Ali.
Benghazi, 4 October 2014:
There has been fighting at Benghazi’s Jalaa hospital, reportedly between Ansar Al-Sharia forces and locals. According to . . .[restrict]a hospital source who asked not to be named, a Sudanese cleaner named as Abdul Karim Abdul Nabi Adam was shot dead in the clashes. Patients and staff alike are said to have fled and the hospital now closed although fighting is reported to be continuing this evening.
The clashes started after locals apparently moved in to evict Ansar from the hospital. It and fellow fighters in Benghazi Revolutionaries Choura Council have been taking their wounded there from the current fighting around Benina and places bombed by Operation Dignity aircraft.
Claims that a leading Ansar commander is being treated at the hospital have not be confirmed.
This not the first time that Ansar’s presence in the hospital has resulted in deadly violence.
In July, seven people were reported killed and 35 injured in clashes at Jalaa between Ansar and Saiqa Special Forces three weeks after the Islamists took over security and thus control of the hospital. At the end of the month, locals then forced Ansar to move out but it moved back in hours later after a brief firefight with them.
Ansar again left in a deal mediated at the beginning of August by former Benghazi municipal councillor Awad Alqawiri. Under it, the hospital was supposed to be protected by young men from Salmani district. However, according to the hospital source, there has been no such protection. [/restrict]
