By Aimen Amzein.
Benghazi, 2 June 2016:
One of Saiqa Special Forces’ commanders was killed yesterday in a mine explosion in Benghazi’s Gwarsha district. . . .[restrict]Also killed with Colonel Ali Murtaja Al-Tawerghi, was a member of his team, Abdulsalam Al-Shatshat.
Gwarsha and other areas in Benghazi previously controlled by Ansar Al-Sharia and it allies are littered with mines laid by them, preventing Saiqa and other Libyan National Army (LNA) units from moving forward.
In thearea from Ben Jawad to Abu Grain, too, vast amounts of mines laid by the so-called Islamic State (IS) are making it extremely difficult for the Misratan-led armed forces from the west and the Petroleum Forces Guard from the east to advance towards Sirte. Almost every day there are reports of men from one or other of the two forces being killed by mines.
According to de-mining experts who now class Libya as the second most mined country in the world after Afghanistan, tens of thousands of mainly Italian-made mines, previously stockpiled in the Tobruk area and elsewhere in the country, are now to the hands of both Ansar Al-Sharia and IS. They claim that the former Ali Zeidan government was warned of such a danger near three years ago and of the need to secure the ordinance but did nothing about it. [/restrict]
