Over 140 Killed in Libya Battles

Local Editor

Dozens of troops and civilians have reportedly been slaughtered in an attack on an airbase in southern Libya. The attack was blamed on the militia backing the Tripoli-based government of National Accord [GNA], which denies that it sanctioned the carnage.

The attack unfolded Thursday afternoon at Brak Al-Shati airbase, which since December has been under control of the Libyan National Army [LNA], rivaling the government in Tripoli. LNA, headed by General Khalifa Haftar, does not recognize the authority of the GNA and is linked to the rival House of Representatives [HoR], the country's elected legislature, which operates from the city of Tobruk on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast.

The so-called Third Force militia, hailing from the city of Misrata, which is loyal to the UN-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj, launched an attack on the airbase as the LNA soldiers were returning from a military parade held there. The servicemen were not able to offer much resistance as they were unarmed, LNA spokesman Ahmad Al-Mimari said in a statement on Friday.

"Most of them were executed," al-Mimari said.

Misrata State Council member Begassem Igzeit called the killings an "irresponsible and heinous crime against Libyans."

Medical officials at a local hospital said that people killed in the bloodshed died of a variety of causes, having their throats slit by militiamen, succumbing to burns or due to being run over by military vehicles.

Among those caught in the melee were also "innocent civilians," al-Mimari said, who lived nearby or were employed at the base.

Reuters reported Thursday that at least 60 people died in the attack, however, unverified reports of a much higher death toll were already circulating.

Third Force commander Mohamed Gliwan claimed responsibility for the attack, arguing that his people "liberated the base and destroyed all the forces inside," in an interview to Lybian Al-Ahrar TV.

As a pretext to the attack he cited "suspicious movements" inside the base allegedly detected by the militiamen, which he said could have threatened their positions.
The blatant attack was condemned by the parliament in Tobruk, which denounced it as "a cowardly terrorist attack by al-Qaeda armed groups and militias allied with the so-called government of national accord on Brak al-Shati air base," as cited by Xinhua.

However, Tripoli denied it had played any role in plotting the attack. On Friday, the government's presidential council chaired by ASarraj announced the suspension of defense minister Mehdi Albergta and ordered to launch an investigation to "identify those responsible for the breach of truce and ceasefire," as cited by Sky News Arabia.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team