By Noora Ibrahim.
Benghazi, 28 October 2014:
Pro-government forces fighting under the banner of the Libyan National Army (LNA) have . . .[restrict]again called for the evacuation of residents from Benghazi’s Sabri district as fierce clashes continued throughout the city.
Reports from medical sources indicated that as many as 28 individuals had been killed in Benghazi yesterday over a period of 24 hours.
Mohamed Hejazi the spokesman of Operation Dignity, which works under the auspices of the army, told the Libya Herald that residents in Sabri needed to leave for their own safety. He said as LNA forces advanced from the eastern and western entrances of the city Ansar Al-Sharia and its allies were being pushed into Gwarsha and Sidi Faraj.
“Ansar snipers are in Sabri and Shara Al-Khutut,” he said. “They are putting their vehicles next to private homes to prevent them being hit.”
Repeating his calls for residents to leave their homes he said the LNA would target any homes where Ansar Al-Sharia was present. He added that in the Sabri district local people had been helping government forces locate and arrest Islamists and their supporters. He claimed that many members of Ansar Al-Sharia had surrendered over across the city but would not say how many. “We treat them well and in accordance with Islam,” he said.
Elsewhere in the city, Hejazi said, LNA helicopters had carried out airstrikes on Ansar positions. A checkpoint in Buatni had been hit, destroying vehicles and, he believed, killing Ansar fighters. In Gwarsha four Ansar Al-Sharia gun-mounted vehicles were also destroyed.
The home in the Salmani district of an Ansar commander, Jalal Makhzoum, had been attacked and burned by locals, he said. Makhzoum was, however, not present. He is believed to be in Turkey for medical attention.
The fighting in and around the university has continued and one member of 204 Tank Brigade, named as Haithem Mousa Al-Khafafi, was reported killed during the clashes yesterday. The LNA also reported that a 17 February Brigade leader, Ali Faraj Al-Magasabi was captured at the same time. Rockets were also falling in nearby the Tabalino district by Tripoli Bridge.
Meanwhile, the headless body of a member of the Qaddafi regime’s security apparatus, Mohamed Yacoub Lamami, was found in the Hawari district. It is not known when he was killed.
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