Protesters run after an attack on a Libyan militia, the Libya Shield brigade, headquarters in Benghazi, yesterday.
BENGHAZI, Libya: At least 11 people were killed and 35 wounded in clashes yesterday between protesters and a Libyan militia operating with Defence Ministry approval in the eastern city of Benghazi, a doctor in the city said.
Residents said dozens of protesters had demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Libya Shield brigade demanding the disbanding of militias who have yet to lay down their weapons nearly two years after the overthrow of long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
A doctor at central Benghazi’s Al Jalaa Hospital said he had counted 11 dead and 35 wounded.
Resentment against the militias, some of which have been co-opted or licensed by a central government whose own forces are too weak to maintain security, has been growing in recent months, especially after militiamen laid siege to ministries in Tripoli last month to force their will on the National Assembly.
The Libya Shield brigade is made up of former rebel fighters who say they are aligned with the Defence Ministry. A spokesman for the interior and defence ministry’s security operations room said special forces from the Libyan military had arrived at the scene. REUTERS
