MIDEAST-CRISIS/LIBYA FUNERAL Funeral for Libyan fighters draws hundreds of mourners

Record ID: 298940

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/LIBYA FUNERAL Funeral for Libyan fighters draws hundreds of mourners
  • Date: 30th March 2015
  • Summary: ZAWIYA, LIBYA (MARCH 30, 2015) (REUTERS) COFFINS LAID BEFORE MOURNERS VARIOUS OF COFFINS DURING PRAYERS MUSLIM IMAM LEADS PRAYERS MOURNERS CARRY COFFINS COFFIN GOING INSIDE AMBULANCE LIBYAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MAYOR OF ZAWIYA, MOHAMED KHADRAWI, SAYING: "There were five martyrs from shelling by the army and the tribes that were hosting them." EXTERIOR OF ZAWIYA HOSPIT
  • Embargoed: 14th April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8JK7FWIVT2QA3P6KGWTNL01UB
  • Story Text: Hundreds of Libyans turned out on Monday (March 30) for the funeral of five fighters from Libya's dawn forces that control the capital, Tripoli.
    They were killed on Sunday (March 29) near the western town of Zawiya during fighting with forces loyal to the internationally-recognised government, based in eastern Libya.
    "There were five martyrs from shelling by the army and the tribes that were hosting them," said the Zawiya Mayor, Mohamed Khadrawi.
    Separately, a Filipino was killed and eight people were wounded when a rocket likely to have targeted a refinery hit Zawiya on Sunday.
    "Yesterday, there was also another attack on a road called Fass inside Zawiya that led to the death of one Filipino and injured three Filipinos, one Nigerian and four Libyans," said Khadrawi.
    He said a Grad rocket landed near a car the foreign workers had been travelling in to get home after work late on Sunday.
    The wife of one of the Filipino victims, who is also a nurse at the local hospital, explained what happened.
    "They were on their way, coming from the war yesterday evening, coming home when suddenly underway and coming home - he told me - that only one metre away from the car something exploded. After that, this happened to them. And because of the impact or the pressure of the explosion, the glass of the car was broken like this. After that, the man beside him was, I think, was thrown outside the car," said the woman, Irine Acosta.
    The Zawiya region has seen fighting between rival factions since the official government said a week ago it had launched a military offensive to "liberate" Tripoli using allied tribesmen from western Libya.
    A source from forces allied to the internationally-recognised government in the east denied claims by some officials in Tripoli, which is controlled by a rival government, that they had fired a Grad in the direction of Zawiya or a nearby refinery.
    The official government is based in the east after Tripoli was seized by a rival faction in August, reinstating a previous assembly and setting up a rival government.
    Both sides have been attacking each other with war planes, the official government had recently launched a military offensive to "liberate" Tripoli using allied tribesmen.
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