By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 17 March 2016:
A dawn attack today on Zliten prison which saw up to 60 inmates escape is being . . .[restrict]blamed on IS. There are reports, which have not been confirmed, that unidentified aircraft later struck an IS convoy at Wadi Zamzam 150 kilometres south west of the prison.
Details of the jail attack remain confused. It appears to have begun when an RPG was fired against a gate. Some sources are saying that the guards either fled at this point or had abandoned the prison beforehand. It does not appear that there were any casualties.
A Zliten municipal councillor, Bashir Al-Burnani is understood to have said that 18 prisoners had escaped. Other sources say as many as 60 inmates got away. It is unclear how many people were held in this jail but it is understood that the majority was Qaddafi soldiers or supporters who have been held since the Revolution.
Details of the later Wadi Zamzam airstrike are even sketchier. It is not certain that the target was linked to the prison break. If it was, then the presumed IS convoy was taking a very long southerly route to avoid Misratan positions at Abu Grain on the road to Sirte. [/restrict]
