By Saber Ayyub.
Tripoli, 14 March 2016:
A cut in the electricity supply to Tripoli appears to have succeeded in securing the release . . .[restrict]of the leader of Khoms military council, Mohamed Sultan. He was reported to have been freed late this evening after being kidnapped this afternoon along with an assistant Ahmed Al-Huwat and Khoms customs director Salah Haribesh near the capital’s Salaheddin district.
Responding to the abduction, protestors in Khoms (125 km east of Tripoli) closed the coastal road from Tripoli to Misrata. They also warned the Khalifa Ghwell administration that they would cut the power supply from Khoms power station – a major source of power for the capital – if Sultan were not released.
They then carried out the threat when it was ignored, a source in Khoms confirming to the Libya Herald that the supply had been disconnected. As a result almost half of Tripoli was plunged into darkness just after sunset.
Power started returning around 10pm local time.
It is still not know who abducted Sultan or why. However, the fact that he was released after the power was cut is seen as indicating that the Ghwell administration was able to put pressure on whoever was involved to release him.
Meanwhile, there is no news of a female doctor also kidnapped in Tripoli today. Hana Zaawam has disappeared in front of Masra private clinic on Shara Al-Shat. She is reportedly the second female doctor to be abducted from the same location in less than a week. [/restrict]
