By Libya Herald staff.
Tunis, 26 August 2017:
Two members a Libyan National Army unit were reported killed this morning in clashes with gunmen south of Kufra near the border with Chad. According to the Sibal Al-Salam battalion, the clashes were with a Chadian opposition group. It added that it had managed to kill seven members of the group and destroy three of its vehicles.
The battalion is from Kufra and is said to consist mainly of members of the Zwai tribe who are Salafists.
A number of Chadian opposition groups are known to be operating on the Libyan side of the border. Last weekend one of them launched an attack on Chadian forces on the other side, killing a number and triggering Chad’s decision to break diplomatic relations with Qatar. It accused it of using Libya as a base to destablise the country.
However, according to a source in Kufra, the Chadians were not opponents of the country’s president Idriss Déby but mercenaries, some of whom had in fact previously been fighting alongside the LNA. According to the source, identity cards provided by the LNA were found on the bodies of two of the dead. They were said to have been members of the Ali Al-Thumin Brigade which is part of the LNA.
This has not been confirmed.
