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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 8 May 2016:
There is confusion over claims that there have been a spate of organized assassinations of police . . .[restrict]and army officers in Tripoli over the last few days.
The media, and especially social media, have been full of claims and counter claims that there have been eight assassinations in the capital over four days. These social media claims have also included a list of people allegedly assassinated during a four-day period. The list includes the name of a female officer.
The head of Tripoli Security Directorate, Salah Alsumouy, however, has refuted the claims.
It has been pointed out that at least two of the names on the list circulating on social media are fake names, whilst other names on the list were assassinated at other times and outside the capital.
Residents in Tripoli have pointed out that the dead are usually accompanied by funeral and burial rites pretty promptly in a Muslim society – which have not been reported in the capital. They see these as politically motivated, trumped up allegations to discredit the capital’s security situation.
Alsumouy’s rebuttal of the assassinations, on the other hand, have been dismissed as an attempted cover-up. Critics and enemies of the Presidency Council (PC) and Government of National Accord (GNA) are pointing to the alleged assassinations and likening Tripoli to Benghazi in the pre Hafter period.
This is the period when there were assassinations in Benghazi of security personnel on an almost day basis. They are using the allegations to show the weakness and ineffectiveness of the PC/GNA in imposing security in Tripoli. [/restrict]
