Libya: Daesh terror leader behind attacks caught
A leader of the Daesh group has been captured in Libya’s capital city Tripoli.
The Tripoli based government’s Prime Minister announced that, the individual, who’s nationality remains unknown to the Libyan authorities, was allegedly behind the planning of three attacks in Tripoli in 2018 and was captured on August 22, according to the AFP, August 25.
Daesh, more commonly known as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), were the deadliest terrorist organisation on the planet last year and many have been alarmed at the high presence of violent insurgencies, who are linked to ISIS and Al-Qaeda, in the Sahel region over the past decade.
Libya has seen two civil wars in the past fifteen years. The country’s first civil war resulted in the toppling of authoritarian strongman Moammar Gaddafi. Since then, the country has been in stop-start conflict.
READ: Tensions in Libya escalate as clashes break out
The war-torn North African country experienced deadly clashes in its capital city earlier this month as fighting broke out between Libya’s two main militias, The Special Deterrence Force and the 444 Brigade, which saw flights diverted from Tripoli’s main commercial airport as Mahmoud Hamza (head of 444 Brigade) was detained by the militia’s rival, The Special Deterrence Force. The violent scenes killed 45 people.
Abdelhamid Dbeibah, head of the UN-supported Libyan government, said during a television broadcast, “Our forces apprehended on Tuesday (August 22) a leader of the terrorist organisation Daesh, involved in the planning and command of terrorist acts that targeted the institutions of our country and their fallen officials”.
Daesh struck terror on Libyan soil in 2018, as they were responsible for three attacks within a 7-month period. They claimed responsibility for May 2 suicide attack on the Libyan High Electoral Commission’s headquarters, based in the capital city as well as the attack on the headquarters of the Libyan National Oil Company in September 2018.
A Libyan diplomat was a victim of an attack by the group in late December of that year. The attack was committed against the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as two other people were murdered.
ISIS has taken advantage of Libya’s insecurity since 2011’s fall of Colonel Gaddafi, caused by at NATO-backed revolt, and has been running riot in many towns and cities across the North African nation.
AFP
