Saturday, September 08, 2012

Three Killed in Libya Clashes Over Destruction of Religious Sites

Three killed in Libya clashes over shrine
Situation is now under control, official says

AFP
Published: 13:39 September 8, 2012
Benghazi, Libya

Clashes killed three people and wounded several others in eastern Libya on Friday as locals confronted Islamists attempting to destroy a shrine, the interior ministry said.

Witnesses said that armed villagers from Rajma, 50km southeast of Benghazi, clashed with a group of extremists who tried to demolish the Sidi Al Lafi mausoleum, killing three Islamists.

“The clashes left three people dead and several more wounded on both sides,” Deputy Interior Minister Wanis Al Sharif told AFP.

“The situation is now under control” after Libyan rebel forces halted the violence and dispersed the assailants with help from local tribal chiefs, said Al Sharif.

Islamist hardliners bulldozed part of a mausoleum near the centre of the Libyan capital Tripoli late last month, a day after another shrine was blown up in eastern Zliten.

According to witnesses a mausoleum was also destroyed at that time in the port city of Misrata, 200km east of Tripoli.

The destructions triggered protests in Tripoli and drew international condemnation, with the UN cultural body Unesco expressing “grave concern” after Sufi shrines were attacked.

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