Gunmen takes over Libyan parliament, demand suspension

Posted by Sylvester on Monday, May 19, 2014 0

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Heavily armed gunmen stormed Libya’s parliament on Sunday demanding its suspension and claiming loyalty to a renegade army general who has vowed to purge the country of Islamist militants.
Reuters says smoke rose over parliament after gunmen attacked and then withdrew, and gunfire erupted across Tripoli, where rival militias clashed in some of the worst violence in the city since the end the 2011 war against Muammar Gaddafi.

Details of who was involved Sunday’s chaotic attack were unclear, but loyalists of retired General Khalifa Haftar said his forces and militia allies had planned the parliament assault in a campaign to rid Libya of Islamist hardliners.

“We announce the freezing of the GNC,” said Col. Mukhtar Fernana, a former military police officer from the Zintan region, reading out a statement on al-Ahrar TV.

Haftar’s spokesman, Mohamed al-Hejazi, said Fernana’s group was allied to the former general.