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December 12, 2011

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Army chief a target for 2nd time

LIBYA'S military said yesterday that ex-rebels have tried for a second time to assassinate the country's new army commander, as the two groups clashed near the capital's airport. The rebels denied the claim.

An army spokesman said fighters from the western town of Zintan opened fire on two occasions on Saturday on the convoy of General Khalifa Hifter, the commander of the newly rebuilt army. He said a guard was killed and four others wounded in the second attack.

The spokesman said the Zintan fighters mistakenly believed that the army was coming to attack them at the airport, which they have occupied shortly after revolutionaries captured the capital from Moammar Gadhafi's regime in August.

"Zintan rebels opened fire on the convoy from left, right and front ... They think that the army wants to take over the airport but this is not the case," he said.

The clashes were the latest in a series of violent incidents in the capital that illustrate the difficulties faced by Libya's transitional leaders in compelling the militias which overthrew Gadhafi to submit to the new government's authority.

The army says that it is trying to persuade ex-rebel militias to return to their homes, and, if possible, to enlist in its ranks.



 

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