LIBYA: Firefight with militant group Ansar al-Sharia kills nine special forces soldiers, government spokesman says

Record ID: 354909

  • Title: LIBYA: Firefight with militant group Ansar al-Sharia kills nine special forces soldiers, government spokesman says
  • Date: 2nd May 2014
  • Summary: LIBYA, TRIPOLI (MAY 2, 2014) (REUTERS) SPOKESMAN FOR LIBYAN GOVERNMENT AHMAD AL-AMEEN ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE LIBYAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SPOKESMAN FOR LIBYAN GOVERNMENT, AHMAD AL-AMEEN, SAYING: "The city of Benghazi observed last night and today morning, Friday May 2, 2014, a firefight between the legal Libyan forces of the army, the police and even some residents a
  • Embargoed: 17th May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5XIWC6XUKOVPX6HFUN1X2PNEF
  • Story Text: Nine Libyan soldiers were killed on Friday (May 2) when Islamist fighters tried to storm the Benghazi city security headquarters in an attack authorities blamed on the militant group Ansar al-Sharia.
    The dead were soldiers of a special forces unit, the Tripoli government said, for the first time openly blaming Ansar al-Sharia, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States.
    "The city of Benghazi observed last night and today morning, Friday May 2, 2014, a firefight between the legal Libyan forces of the army, the police and even some residents and an armed group called Ansar al-Sharia and other criminal groups," government spokesman Ahmad al-Ameen said.
    Huge explosions could be heard during a firefight in the early morning that lasted more than an hour. Special forces later secured the headquarters, near the city centre.
    Special forces have often clashed with the heavily-armed militant group in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, but the government with its nascent army had been reluctant to name it publicly for fear of provoking tensions.
    "They attacked the security headquarters in Benghazi with light and heavy weapons. Fighting took place between the security forces and the attackers that led to the killing and injuring a number of them, and the killing of nine members of the special forces. Others were wounded," al-Ameen added.
    Libya's weak central government is struggling to control armed groups, militias and brigades of former rebels who helped oust long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in the 2011 civil war and now refuse to disarm.
    "The Libyan government condemns these kind of aggressions by armed groups who have different agendas which contradict building the new Libya," al-Ameen told journalists.
    Helicopters and war planes were flying over Benghazi in the afternoon. Occasional gunfire and smaller explosions could still be heard during the day. As many as 15 more troops were also injured in the attack.
    Car bombings and assassinations of soldiers and police officers have become common in Benghazi, where a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed minibus outside a special forces camp on Tuesday (April 29), killing two people.
    Most countries have closed their consulates in the city and some foreign airlines have stopped flying there since the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed in an Islamist militant attack in September 2012.
    In December, a suicide bomber killed 13 outside an army camp on the outskirts of Benghazi, in the first suicide attack since the 2011 NATO-backed civil war that toppled Gaddafi.
    Western diplomats worry that the violence will spill over to the capital Tripoli, where the security situation has also worsened. Kidnappings of foreign diplomats have been on the rise as well as nightly shootouts near the airport road.
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