By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 14 December 2015:
Three senior Libya Dawn commanders are reportedly among ten dead in ferocious fighting in Tajoura in . . .[restrict]which up to 400 may have escaped from the local jail.
Details of conflict are still sketchy. Fighting broke out at 5 am today. It is being said that at least 50 people, including non-combatants, were wounded.
The battle appears to have been focused on the prison in the area from which as many as 400 inmates may have been freed, some of whom were shot dead or wounded while escaping. Social media pictures show the prison seriously damaged.
One of the dead is said to be Mohamed Fawzi Shuhaime, head of the Tajoura Operations Room and his colleague Ahmad Buzaida, commander of the Rawasid Force militia. Also reported to have been killed in Buzaida’s deputy, Mohamed Tarhouni. Other names for Libya Dawn militiamen who perished in the fighting include Ibrahim Bin Ramadan, Zayid Fathi Naas and Ahmed Itbega.
Those who attacked the Libya Dawn positions appear to militia rivals from Tajoura.
This is not the first extremely violent clash in this eastern suburb of Tripoli. Last April there was bitter fighting between a local militia brigade, declaring its loyalty to the Libyan National Army and fighters from Misrata and Suq Al-Juma. The trigger then was a demand from Libya Dawn that the Tajuran brigade hand over its HQ compound.
Today the coastal road from Tripoli to Misrata was blocked by the fighting, which appears to have tapered off. [/restrict]
