Benghazi, 26 April:
Benghazi’s main jail in Kuwafiyah was attacked early this evening, Thurday, by an armed group trying to storm the . . .[restrict]prison and release prisoners. Four security guards outside the prison were seriously wounded before the area was secured.
Large numbers of police and security vehicles were seen rushing through Benghazi toward the prison some 15 kilometres east of the city centre.
Brigade sources at the scene of the fighting said that said those responsible for the attack were members of the Islamist group Takfir wal Hijra and were from Derna. It was also claimed that a gun had been smuggled into the prison and that a number of prisoners had escaped.
However, a high-level security source denied this, telling Libya Herald that the attackers were not Islamists but a gang of ordinary criminals intent on releasing friends. No one had managed to enter the prison and no one escaped, the source said. The area was now quiet.
The prison contains three men accused of the assassination of Chief of Staff Abdel Fatah Younis last July.
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