Sunday, July 31, 2011

FF attack the Al-Nidaa faction inside Benghazi, secretly working for #Gaddafi

Arab Fury
 FF attack the Al-Nidaa faction inside Benghazi after they were suspected of secretly working for . 4 dead 
Libya's opposition forces have launched an attack against what they say was a pro-Gaddafi militia operating under the opposition's banner in the country's east. The opposition's forces had overrun the base of the al-Nidaa Brigade,
He said that four peopled were killed and six others wounded in the clash, which involved the use of heavy weapons.Tthe pro-government faction, after five hours of fighting near the opposition stronghold Benghazi, according to spokesman Mahmoud Shamam. Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from Benghazi, said the battle was launched to subdue elements of Muammar Gaddafi's forces that had been operating as a "fifth column" within the opposition ranks. "According to sources here there is no connection with the attack and the death of [General Abdel Fattah Younes]," said Birtley, who added that documents were found on the defeated faction that linked it to Gaddafi.
'Unity intact'Shamam said the main rebel force is now in control of the al-Nidaa Brigade's base on the western outskirts of Benghazi, the de facto capital of Libya's opposition-held east.
"It was a long battle and it took many hours because they were heavily armed," he said. "In the end we arrested 31 of them. We lost four people," said Shamam, who added the group of fighters were rounded up for their role in organising a prison break in Benghazi earlier in the week. The fighting followed Thursday's killing of Younes, the chief rebel commander, under mysterious circumstances. Mustafa el-Sagisli, the rebels' deputy interior minister, said that the al-Nidaa Brigade had been involved in "plans to [plant] car bombs". He said that they "participated in many acts of terrorism inside Benghazi". Some reports claimed Sunday's clashes pointed to sharp rifts within the campaign to unseat Gaddafi, nearly six months after the start of the uprising.  Al Jazeera's Birtley disagreed: "I'm not sure there are huge divisions, but there are some cracks. The  [opposition National Transitional Council] is taking great steps to suggest their unity is intact and they are speaking with one voice."