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By Hadi Fornaji.
Tunis, 22 June 2017:
A militiaman with the Rahbat Al-Droua brigade which is based in the east Tripoli district of Tajoura was shot dead early yesterday morning in the capital’s downtown area of Zawiat Al-Dahmani. At present, the reason for his killing is unknown. Even the circumstances remain unclear.
Some reports say that Munir Mohamed Buzid was killed following an argument with two other men. However, on its Facebook page, the brigade says that he was in his car when unknown gunmen shot at him. They then fled.
The Rahbat Al-Droua is one of a couple of small brigades based in Tajoura which were on the losing side in the recent clashes in the capital between its main militias nominally supportive of the Presidency Council (PC) and militants who back the rival would-be government of Khalifa Ghwell. It is seen as directly linked to supposed grand mufti Sadek Al-Ghariani.
He lives in Tajoura.
This week there were reports that Misratan forces backing Ghwell, notably Salah Badi’s Samoud Front, had moved to the far outskirts of Tripoli ahead of a new attempt to move back in and reinstall him in power. It was also rumoured at one point that they had taken the closed Tripoli International Airport. However, the rumours have now subsided and the PC’s Presidential Guard has announced that it is in the process of taking control of the airport.
Meanwhile, a unit from the Janzour Protection Force this evening closed the coastal road eastwards to Tripoli and westwards to the Wirshefana area and Zawia. They did so saying they were fed up with attacks on them.
Earlier in the day, a member of the unit was shot and seriously injured and his vehicle stolen by gunmen near the west Tripoli power station.
The incident appears not to have been politically motivated but a case of common crime.
The Janzour Protection Force is linked to the Fursan Janzour (“Knights of Janzour”) which now backs the PC.
