New Mystery Air Raid Over Tripoli Kills 10 Libyan Islamists
TRIPOLI — Using the cover of darkness to mask its identity, a mystery warplane launched a raid near Tripoli airport overnight, killing at least 10 Islamist, a Libyan militia spokesman said Saturday. The new strike came five days after an initial night raid alarmed Tripoli residents and sparked questions, yet to be answered, about where the aircraft had come from.
Neither the targeted militants nor the Libyan government, lacking real power and holed up in Tobruk 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east of Tripoli, have been able to shed light on the identity of the two planes in Monday’s raid.
The latest deadly strike targeted an army base to the south of Tripoli and a nearby warehouse, Mohammed al-Ghariani, spokesman for the Fajr Libya (Libyan Dawn) coalition of militias, said on An-Nabaa television. Ghariani said “at least 10 men” from Fajr Libya died and 20 were wounded in the raid, a follow-up to Monday’s initial air bombardment. “We haven’t identified the plane that carried out the raid, just like those that attacked us on Monday,” the Fajr Libya spokesman said.......
Media and political circles are full of the wildest theories about the mystery aircraft. Some speculate about Western intervention, but France, Italy and the United States have all denied involvement.
The Islamists do not rule out foreign aircraft acting at the behest of the Libyan government, after the new parliament elected on June 25 called for foreign intervention to protect civilians. Others suggest the trail leads towards neighboring countries, in particular Egypt, where new President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is hostile towards Islamists. Authorities in Cairo have refused to comment. Algeria to the immediate west has repeatedly said it will not get involved in Libya.....
Meanwhile, some sources in Libya say Haftar has acquired Sukhoi jets from Russia capable of carrying out such raids. Another theory is that the embattled Zintan fighters have hired mercenaries and aircraft from an unknown army to launch the raids.