Libyan air forces bombarded extremists

Libyan National Army revealed that it targeted terrorist groups controlling Jaffra Airbase, as Benghazi’s extremists bombarded a number of areas in the Libyan cities with mortar shells. According to sources, the attack led to increasing material damages with no reports over humanitarian losses
The Libyan National Army (LNA) has said it is fighting Al-Qaeda and claimed that some of its soldiers killed at Brak Al-Shatti had been beheaded. It also said the majority of the attackers it had subsequently captured were foreigners.
Mohamed Lifrais, spokesman for the LNA’s 12th Brigade, which bore the brunt of Thursday’s assault, told the Libya Herald: “We are convinced we are fighting Al-Qaeda.” He said that among the prisoners taken by the LNA were a Palestinian, two Malians and a Chadian.  He claimed that 70 percent of the fighters they had killed or taken prisoner had been foreign.
Lifrais said some of the 12th Brigade troops had been beheaded. A number of bodies had been set on fire, possibly when the victims were still alive. He added that most of the soldiers had been shot in the heart or head or their throats had been slit. Lifrais also maintained that at least 15 civilians, including a ten year-old boy had been killed in the attack.
He dismissed the suggestion that the executions at the airbase were a reaction to the killings of alleged militants of the so-called Islamic State by a Saiqa Special Forces commander widely identified as Mahmoud Warfali. “The LNA will liberate the airbase” he said. It is reported that its 112th, 117th and 173rd brigades are now massing near Brak Al-Shatti for a counterattack.
A total of 141 people died in the Brak Al-Shatti airbase massacre, the Libyan National Army’s spokesman, Colonel Ahmed Mismari, announced at a press conference this evening. Promising a harsh response, he also announced that air strikes had already begun on Jufra airbase and that they would continue. There would be no ceasefire, he said.
He claimed that the attack had been planned and led by Ahmed Abduljalil Al-Hasnawi, supported by the 13th Battalion and the Benghazi Defence Brigades. Going into some detail, he said that the LNA’s 10th Battalion lost 17 men in the massacre, along with 11 missing and two injured. The 12th Battalion lost 86 men and 40 wounded. Additionally, seven civilian truck drivers were killed, he added. They had been delivering rations, he disclosed.
In the same context, Reports have emerged this afternoon that Benghazi member of the House of Representatives, Badr Musa Al-Nahib Alaguri, was shot at today as he was leaving Friday prayers at a mosque in the Masakin area of the city’s Buatni district. He suffered minor injuries.
The shooting is thought to be linked to the assassination of Breik Ellawati, one of the leaders of the Awagir tribe. Apart from both being members of the same tribe, the two attacks happened at the same time. As with Ellawati’s murder, there are no publicly known reasons what anyone would want to murder Al-Nahib.
The Arab League today described the Brak Al-Shatti massacre as “barbaric” and said that it was a dangerous escalation that threatened to ignite greater battles. The attack on the airbase camp “once again demonstrated the grave threat posed by armed groups and outlawed militias to the security, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Libyan state.”
In its statement issued in Cairo, the League once again insisted that there could be no military solution and the current crisis could only be settled by all parties working with the Libyan Political Agreement. Egypt also condemned what it called a “brutal terrorist attack”. In a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Cairo it expressed its “solidarity with the Libyan people and their national army, demanding that they seriously deal with those involved in that terrorist operation.”
It added that Libyan politics should not be subject to illegal groups which were trying to carve themselves a role by committing terrorist acts, which it said were being undertaken in cooperation with terrorist organisations receiving external support and funding.
Meanwhile, five ambassadors to Libya insisted that those responsible for the Brak Al-Shatti murders should be brought to justice. The envoys from China, France, Russia, the UK and the US put out a joint statement today saying they were disturbed by reports of the summary executions of both combatants and civilians.
They said:“We condemn any efforts to change the situation on the ground in Libya by force, which only undermines recent political dialogue and prolongs the suffering of the Libyan people.” The EU described the mass murder as a worrying development. “Violence is not a solution to Libya’s challenges” it said, “It can only put at risk the ongoing work to find a peaceful and negotiated solution to the political and security crisis. “All parties need to exercise restraint, cease all hostilities and avoid further escalation of violence for sake of all Libyans. Further dialogue is essential between all parties in a spirit of reconciliation.”