FOTO ARKIB: Sebuah jet pejuang Libya terbang ke
bandar timur Benghazi semasa perarakan tentera untuk meraikan ulang tahun yang ke-2
operasi ketenteraan pertama NATO di Libya pada 19 Mac, 2013. (AFP Photo/Abdullah Doma – think IN pictures
@1WORLD Community)
JohnnyAdam – Libya
telah melancarkan serangan udara terhadap militan di selatan negara itu dalam
usaha untuk menamatkan pertempuran bersenjata. Kementerian Perta-hanan Libya
menyalahkan pasukan yang setia kepada pemimpin yang disingkirkan Muam-mar
Gaddafi untuk mencetuskan rusuhan.
“Daya
telah readied, maka pesawat bergerak dan mengambil kira dan ditangani dengan
sasaran,” kata jurucakap Kementerian Pertahanan Abdul-Raziq Shabahi kepada
pemberita di Tripoli seperti yang dipetik oleh Reuters.
Kerajaan
Libya meletakkan tentera berjaga-jaga selepas lelaki bersenjata menyerbu sebuah
pangkalan udara berhampiran bandar selatan Sabha, 770 kilometer di selatan ibu
kota Tripoli.
Penyerang juga menyerbu sekurang-kurangnya 2
pangkalan tentera di bandar, seorang pegawai tentera yang tidak dinamakan
berkata, menurut AP. Selepas penyerang memasuki pangkalan udara, Perdana
Menteri Libya Ali Zeidan berkata kerajaan masih dalam kawalan dari bandar dan
lapangan terbang awam, menurut Reuters.
Terdahulu
hari ini, Ketua Kongres Kebangsaan Libya mengisytiharkan keadaan kecemasan
semasa “sesi luar biasa” tentang keadaan di bandar selatan Sabha, berikutan
keganasan di rantau ini yang telah mengamuk selama beberapa hari, AFP
melaporkan. Sejak pertem-puran bermula seminggu yang lalu, sekurang-kurangnya 31
orang terbunuh dalam per-tempuran antara suku Arab Awled Sleiman dan Toubou puak
minoriti.
“Tentera
dari Misrata telah ditugaskan oleh kerajaan untuk menjalankan tugas negara . .
. untuk menyebarkan keselamatan dan kestabilan di rantau ini,” kata Zeidan,
seperti yang dipetik oleh Al Arabiya.
Oleh
malam, jurucakap Kementerian Pertahanan Abderrazak al-Shebahi berkata tentera
telah berjaya menawan semula asas Tamenhant itu, mengesan militan daripada
bekas penyokong pemimpin yang disingkirkan Muammar Gaddafi selepas mereka
melarikan diri ke padang pasir.
“Kita
tahu mereka dan kita akan mengesan di mana mereka akan,” kata al- Shebahi.
Bangsa-Bangsa
Bersatu Misi Sokongan di Libya (UNSMIL) yang dipanggil pada hari Sabtu untuk “akhir
dengan segera kepada pertempuran bersenjata” di bandar Sabha dan menggesa semua
pihak untuk “resort untuk cara yang aman untuk menyelesaikan perbe-zaan” dan “memulihkan
tenang.” misi ini juga telah dipanggil untuk siasatan menyeluruh dan tidak
berat sebelah peristiwa.
Pertempuran
datang sebagai Tripoli perjuangan untuk mengandungi militia bersenjata, puak
dan Islam, sesetengah daripada mereka mengambil bahagian dalam menggulingkan
Gaddafi pada tahun 2011 tetapi telah enggan melucutkan senjata.
Sebelum
itu, dua pekerja binaan Itali juga telah diculik oleh penyerang yang tidak
dikenali di timur tidak menentu di negara ini. Menurut sumber keselamatan yang dipetik oleh
Reuters, orang Itali itu diculik di kubu kuat Islam radikal Derna, di timur
Benghazi, di mana mereka telah bekerja di sebuah kilang simen.
Sejak
serangan maut di konsulat Amerika Syarikat pada September 2012, Benghazi telah
menggegarkan oleh satu gelombang pembunuhan tentera dan polis pegawai serta
penge-boman kereta. Satu campuran militia dan puak bersenjata juga telah
merampas pela-buhan utama eksport minyak di timur Libya, mendesak autonomi
politik dan penge-ringan hasil minyak penting di negara ini.
Libyan Air force Attacks targets in South
after
gunmen Storm Airbase . . .
Libya
has launched air strikes against militants in the south of the country in an
attempt to end the armed clashes. Libyan Defense Ministry blamed forces loyal
to ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi for sparking the unrest.
"A
force was readied, then aircraft moved and took off and dealt with the
targets," Defense Ministry spokesman Abdul-Raziq Shabahi told reporters in
Tripoli as quoted by Reuters.
The
Libyan government put the troops on alert after gunmen stormed an air force
base near the southern city of Sabha, 770 kilometers south of the capital
Tripoli. The assailants also stormed at least two military bases in the city,
an unnamed military official said according to the AP. After attackers entered
the air force base, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said the government was
still in control of the town and its civilian airport, according to Reuters.
Earlier
in the day, Libya's General National Congress declared a state of emergency
during an "extraordinary session" about the situation in the southern
town of Sabha, following violence in the region that has been raging for days,
AFP reports. Since the clashes started a week ago, at least 31 people have been
killed in the fighting between the Arab Awled Sleiman tribe and Toubou minority
tribesmen.
“The
troops from Misrata have been commissioned by the government to conduct a
national task ... to spread security and stability in the region,” Zeidan said,
as quoted by Al Arabiya.
By the
evening, defense ministry spokesman Abderrazak al-Shebahi said the army had
recaptured the Tamenhant base, tracking the militants of the former supporters
of the ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi after they fled into the desert.
"We
know them and we are going to track where they are going," al-Shebahi
said.
The
United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) called on Saturday for the
“immediate end to the armed clashes” in the city of Sabha and urged all the
sides to “resort to peaceful means to resolve the differences” and “restore
calm.” The mission has also called for a thorough and impartial investigation of
the events.
The
clashes come as Tripoli struggles to contain heavily-armed militias, tribesmen
and Islamists, some of whom took part in toppling Gaddafi in 2011 but have
since refused to disarm.
Earlier,
two Italian construction workers were also kidnapped by unknown assailants in
the country’s volatile east. According to a security source quoted by Reuters,
the Italians were kidnapped in the radical Islamist stronghold of Derna, east
of Benghazi, where they had been working at a cement factory.
Since the
deadly assault at the US consulate in September 2012, Benghazi has been rocked
by a wave of assassinations of army and police officers as well as car
bombings. A mix of militias and armed tribesmen has also seized the main oil
export ports in eastern Libya, pressing for political autonomy and drying up
the country’s crucial oil revenues.
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