SERANGAN tentera Udara LIBYA Sasaran di SELATAN Selepas lelaki bersenjata membadai Airbase . . .

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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