| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa North |
| Two senior officers die as LNA continues Ganfouda assault |
| 2016-12-04 |
| [Libya Herald] The Libyan National Army lost four dead and 21 maimed in heavy fighting yesterday in Ganfouda as they claimed to taken three large blocks in the district, though they admitted that they had withdrawn from one area for " tactical reasons". One of the dead was a senior Saiqa Special Forces ...Libya's elite army unit, insofar as they have one, formed from a mixture of paratroopers and commandos. The group emerged from a militia with the same name in 2010. It now numbers a few thousand and reports to the Ministry of Defence. It deployed in Benghazi in an attempt to control the carnage. As a result, it has been attacked and several of its officers murdered. The force is popular in Benghazi for its stance against Ansar al-Sharia group... commander Mustafa Noah al-Abdali. Another was army engineers’ front man Abdullah al-Tuwati, who was killed by a land mine. Heavy fighting ... as opposed to the more usual name-calling or slapsy... continued this morning as soldiers attacked the surrounded enclave from all sides, including more naval fire from offshore. A boom-mobile launched toward troops was destroyed yesterday before it reached its target. The biggest advances appear to have been made in the Busnaib area where one recaptured location was a large wedding hall. Artillery fire and air strikes have continued today. LNA sources are insisting that the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council fighters and their terrorist allies from IS and Ansar al-Sharia ...a Salafist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends. There are groups of the same name in Libyaand Yemen, with the Libyan versions currently most active. Tunisia's Shabaab al-Tawhid started out an Ansar al-Sharia and changed its name in early 2014. It still uses the old name now and then, probably because the stationery's not all used up and the web site hasn't expired yet... are the verge of defeat. The China buildings make up one of the key positions from which the gunnies have still to be driven. |
| Posted by:Fred |