Libya US-backed Rebel Commanders Killed as Helicopter 'Shot Down'
Helicopter may have been shot down west of Libyan capital Tripoli with senior Libya Dawn commanders on board
8:12PM GMT 27 Oct 2015
A number of senior Libyan Islamist militia leaders were killed on Tuesday night after a helicopter was shot down near the capital Tripoli, authorities said.
At least 14 people were killed and all 23 occupants were feared dead after the helicopter, which was ferrying the commanders and large amounts of cash to pay salaries for their men, came down just offshore near the settlement of al-Maya, between Tripoli and the town immediately to its west, Zawiya.
“It was shot by an ant-aircraft gun about 25 km west of Tripoli,” said Jamal Zubia, a spokesman for the Tripoli authorities. “We have no doubt that this was a deliberate attack.”
The area has seen clashes between Libya Dawn, the dominant Islamist group of the coalition of forces that runs Tripoli as well as much of the rest of the country, and a tribe known as the Warshefana.
Sources in Libya Dawn told The Telegraph that the men who died were commanders from the group.
Others were junior military and civilian staff in the coalition.
“Helicopters used to fly four to five km out to sea for safety reasons. But there has been a ceasefire in place for the last four months so perhaps they thought it was safe," said Zubia.
“We believe this was the work of Gaddafi loyalists because it happened in the Warshefana area. It is one of their strongholds.”
“This is a serious challenge as it has killed a number of senior commanders and we will have to respond. The area will need to be cleansed of these elements.”
Bullet-holes were reported in the side of the wreckage by rescuers arriving by boat.
The Warshefana, who remained largely loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi even after his assassination in the imperialist-led war of regime-change during October 2011, have been accused by the Pentagon-NATO supported rebels of semi-criminal kidnapping and extortion rackets as well as fighting their own corner of Libya’s multi-sided civil war.
They were said by some to be complicit in a carjacking attempt on a British Embassy convoy last year.
Libya Dawn are opposed by the country’s imperialist recognized regime now based in Tobruk, in the east of the country.
The UN envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon, is engaged in frantic diplomacy to try to push through a peace deal between the two sides, allowing them to form a common front against the growing threat from rival imperialist-backed rebels who have sworn allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
Among the dead were Col Salem Saqr, military chief of the western region, and Col. Hussein Abudaia, his head of operations.
There were also reports that the helicopter was carrying the body of another senior official, Nourideen Kilani, a representative of the town of Zawiya in peace talks between Libya Dawn and the Warshefana, who was assassinated last week.
The helicopter was heading ultimately for the town of Surman to the west.
The fighting between Libya Dawn and the Warshefana is part of the ongoing struggle for control of the North African state.
That has also contributed to the refugee crisis in Europe, with Libya resuming its historic role as a starting point for the people smuggling operation that has ferried hundreds of thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean over the last few years.
The fate of the helicopter will be a warning to the European Union, whose member states’ navies are currently conducting rescues at sea of migrants in Operation Sophia.
Some rebel commanders are asking for authorization to put a halt to the trade by targeting smugglers in land operations on the Libya coast, especially west of Tripoli, or at least in Libyan territorial waters - something that all sides in the conflict say they will resist.
“At some point, it will have to work within Libyan territory," Rear Admiral Herve Blejean, deputy head of Operation Sophia, told a news conference on Tuesday.
8:12PM GMT 27 Oct 2015
A number of senior Libyan Islamist militia leaders were killed on Tuesday night after a helicopter was shot down near the capital Tripoli, authorities said.
At least 14 people were killed and all 23 occupants were feared dead after the helicopter, which was ferrying the commanders and large amounts of cash to pay salaries for their men, came down just offshore near the settlement of al-Maya, between Tripoli and the town immediately to its west, Zawiya.
“It was shot by an ant-aircraft gun about 25 km west of Tripoli,” said Jamal Zubia, a spokesman for the Tripoli authorities. “We have no doubt that this was a deliberate attack.”
The area has seen clashes between Libya Dawn, the dominant Islamist group of the coalition of forces that runs Tripoli as well as much of the rest of the country, and a tribe known as the Warshefana.
Sources in Libya Dawn told The Telegraph that the men who died were commanders from the group.
Others were junior military and civilian staff in the coalition.
“Helicopters used to fly four to five km out to sea for safety reasons. But there has been a ceasefire in place for the last four months so perhaps they thought it was safe," said Zubia.
“We believe this was the work of Gaddafi loyalists because it happened in the Warshefana area. It is one of their strongholds.”
“This is a serious challenge as it has killed a number of senior commanders and we will have to respond. The area will need to be cleansed of these elements.”
Bullet-holes were reported in the side of the wreckage by rescuers arriving by boat.
The Warshefana, who remained largely loyal to Col Muammar Gaddafi even after his assassination in the imperialist-led war of regime-change during October 2011, have been accused by the Pentagon-NATO supported rebels of semi-criminal kidnapping and extortion rackets as well as fighting their own corner of Libya’s multi-sided civil war.
They were said by some to be complicit in a carjacking attempt on a British Embassy convoy last year.
Libya Dawn are opposed by the country’s imperialist recognized regime now based in Tobruk, in the east of the country.
The UN envoy to Libya, Bernardino Leon, is engaged in frantic diplomacy to try to push through a peace deal between the two sides, allowing them to form a common front against the growing threat from rival imperialist-backed rebels who have sworn allegiance to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
Among the dead were Col Salem Saqr, military chief of the western region, and Col. Hussein Abudaia, his head of operations.
There were also reports that the helicopter was carrying the body of another senior official, Nourideen Kilani, a representative of the town of Zawiya in peace talks between Libya Dawn and the Warshefana, who was assassinated last week.
The helicopter was heading ultimately for the town of Surman to the west.
The fighting between Libya Dawn and the Warshefana is part of the ongoing struggle for control of the North African state.
That has also contributed to the refugee crisis in Europe, with Libya resuming its historic role as a starting point for the people smuggling operation that has ferried hundreds of thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean over the last few years.
The fate of the helicopter will be a warning to the European Union, whose member states’ navies are currently conducting rescues at sea of migrants in Operation Sophia.
Some rebel commanders are asking for authorization to put a halt to the trade by targeting smugglers in land operations on the Libya coast, especially west of Tripoli, or at least in Libyan territorial waters - something that all sides in the conflict say they will resist.
“At some point, it will have to work within Libyan territory," Rear Admiral Herve Blejean, deputy head of Operation Sophia, told a news conference on Tuesday.
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