By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 7 April 2015:
Fierce fighting continued this morning as the Libyan National Army pressed on with its attempt . . .[restrict]to overrun the Brak Al-Shatti airbase in the face of what seems to be dogged resistance by Misratan militiamen.
The capture of the local LNA commander Colonel Mohamed Ben Nael does not however seem to have affected the government assault. Reports yesterday that Nael was dead appear to have been wrong. The Third Force of the Central Shield which captured him have produced pictures showing him alive. In one he appears to have “Misrata” written on his forehead.
A man identifying himself as “Al-Hasnawey”, who said he was a member of the LNA’s attacking 241 Brigade, told the Libya Herald that Nael had been captured after a unit had managed to break into the airbase but had then been forced to retreat.
“We did actually get into the base” said Hasnawey, “and Ben Nael was the first who got in. However, we were exposed to heavy firing which led to our withdrawal and Ben Nael was captured during that”.
Nael, a member of Magarha tribe, is widely believed to have been a senior Qaddafi lieutenant in the south and has been accused of war crimes before and during the Revolution.
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He is understood to have been flown to Misrata from the Taminhent airbase near Sebha, which is still controlled by the Misratans. He has since been transferred to Tripoli.
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