Warplane attacks Libya's Benghazi port after threats by ex-general
Wed Sep 24, 2014 7:53pm GMT
(Adds details, background)
By Ayman al-Warfalli
BENGHAZI, Libya, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A war plane attacked a port in Benghazi
on Wednesday in a strike claimed by forces loyal to former general Khalifa
Haftar, bringing their battle against Islamists to the heart of the eastern
Libyan city.
A Reuters reporter near the port, which is not an oil installation, saw a
warplane open fire several times, although it was unclear whether any
harbour facilities were hit.
The port is the main gateway for wheat and fuel imports into eastern Libya,
a country struggling with anarchy three years after the ousting of Muammar
Gaddafi.
Saqer al-Jouroushi, head of Haftar's air defence unit, has said an umbrella
group of Islamist fighters, Majlis al-Shura, was using the port to bring in
supplies and weapons.
"We warned the port manager that we will not allow ships to dock to supply
Majlis al-Shura with weapons," said Jouroushi, whose unit controls several
planes from Libya's air force.
He said the plane had deliberately missed the quay and had been issuing a
final warning, but added that it would hit next time if another ship tried
to offload weapons. Clashes in Benghazi have so far been mainly limited to
the suburbs.
"We are in a state of war and Ansar al-Sharia and its allies are using the
port to ship in arms against out troops," he said, referring to an Islamist
group blamed by Washington for an attack on the U.S. consulate in the city
in 2012, during which the U.S. ambassador to Libya was killed.
Three years after Gaddafi died during an uprising against his rule, Libya is
divided. The government and elected parliament have relocated to Tobruk in
the far east since losing control of the capital, Tripoli, where a rival
government has been created by forces from the western city of Misrata.
Haftar has emerged as a renegade commander fighting Islamists and has
recently entered into a frail alliance with the government in Tobruk.
Libya depends on foreign imports of food and consumer goods as the desert
country does not have any large industry outside the key oil sector.
However, shippers have become more reluctant to deal with Libya, some
traders have said, and the attack on Benghazi port is only likely to
heighten their concerns. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli; Writing by Ulf
Laessing; Editing by Crispian Balmer)