By Libya Herald staff.
Benghazi, 12 September 2014:
Assassinations are again on the rise in Benghazi after a brief respite. Two people were . . .[restrict]murdered today after Friday prayers.
Tariq Misrati was killed just after he left the Omar Ben Abdulaziz Mosque in Majouri district when a bomb placed under his car exploded. His body was taken to the Benghazi Medical centre.
Across town, the imam of the Argam Ben Abi Al-Argam mosque in Ras Obeida was killed at much the same time when gunmen waiting in a car shot him as he was leaving the mosque. Hit in the head as well as the stomach and hand, Sheikh Akram Saleh Al-Drissi died instantly. His body was also taken to the BMC.
The reasons for both killings are unknown, as are the perpetrators.
However, Drissi was a Salafist and a number of Salafist sheikhs have been murdered, allegedly by militants, because they condemned the miltants’ violence.
In Misrati’s case, he was a civilian. But this is not the first time his family have been targeted. In July last year, his brother, Colonel Jumaa Misrati, was also killed in similar sicumstances when a bomb attached to his car blew up. In his case, Ansar Al-Sharia was suspected. He was a member of military intelligence and had previously been working in Kufra but had just submitted a report to the General National Congress detailing the activities of Ansar and attacks in Benghazi.
On Wednesday, a policeman who has been named as Anwat Misrati (not thought to be related) was killed when gunmen shot him in the city’s Hijaz Street and then fled.
Although all three killings are assumed to be politically motivated and may be linked to the expected offensive by Operation Dignity in the city, much of the violence and crime in Benghazi is about money.
Last night, a gold dealer was murdered in the city’s Al-Thama district. Omar Salah Al-Senussi, 48, was shot multiple times by gunmen who then stole money that he was carrying. [/restrict]
