Libyan Haftar’s army says 141 were killed

Libya National Army, led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar, revealed that the number of soldiers who have been killed during the attack that targeted the Brak Al-Shatti airbase reached to 141. It stressed that they will take the necessary measures to cleanse the area from the terrorist groups. The army stressed that they managed to liberate the eastern area of the country from the grip of extremists and will resume their role to cleanse the whole country as soon as possible.
A total of 141 people died in the Brak Al-Shatti airbase massacre, the Libyan National Army’s spokesman, Colonel Ahmed Mismari, announced at a press conference this evening. Promising a harsh response, he also announced that air strikes had already begun on Jufra airbase and that they would continue. There would be no ceasefire, he said.
He claimed that the attack had been planned and led by Ahmed Abduljalil Al-Hasnawi, supported by the 13th Battalion and the Benghazi Defence Brigades. Going into some detail, he said that the LNA’s 10th Battalion lost 17 men in the massacre, along with 11 missing and two injured. The 12th Battalion lost 86 men and 40 wounded. Additionally, seven civilian truck drivers were killed, he added. They had been delivering rations, he disclosed.
Presidency Council head Faeiz Serraj, on his hand, has suspended his defence minister, Mahdi Al-Barghathi over the massacre yesterday in Brak Al-Shatti.
Most of the Misratan forces responsible were operating under Barghathi’s control, although a statement by his ministry insists he gave no orders to carry out the attack.
The PC has set up a committee to investigate what happened in Brak where dozens of Libyan National Army soldiers were killed, most of them in extra-judicial executions.
Serraj has appointed his justice minister, Mohamed Abdulwahid as the head of the investigation committee with support from interior minister Aref Khoja.
It has been given 15 days to ascertain what happened and Barghathi will remain suspended during the period.
Serraj has also suspended the Jamal Al-Treiki who heads the 13th Brigade (formerly the Third Force) which has admitted its role is the Brak attack. It is unclear, however, whether this can be enforced and what little control the PC has over Treiki’s fighters.
The PC head has also prohibited all forces under his command from undertaking any military operations, except those in self-defence.
As to the Benghazi Defence Brigades, which was also involved in the massacre and has likewise effectively admitted it, while it is has developed close ties to Barghathi, it is a law to itself and certainly does not recognise the PC’s authority.
 
Misratan lawmakers have described yesterday’s massacre in Brak Al -Shatti as a “cowardly act”. They also called for the “criminals” responsible to be punished, urging all the warring factions to exercise “self-discipline” so as to prevent any further flare-ups.
From both the House of Representatives and the State Council, the lawmakers also said that there needed to be a change in the forces charged with protecting Fezzan because “the city of Misrata is not a party to the conflict in the south of Libya”.
Going a step further, Misrata State Council member Begassem Igzeit told the online Mostakbal newspaper that the Presidency Council should withdraw all non-local forces from Fezzan.
He also described yesterday’s killings as carried out not by professional forces but by “bloodthirsty” terrorists.
The slaughter had been an “irresponsible and heinous crime against Libyans,” Igzeit said. He also noted how large numbers of Libyan National Army (LNA) fighters appeared to have been executed after having been captured.
His call is an explicit slap in the face for Misrata’s former Third Force, renamed Battalion No 13, which along with the Benghazi Defence Brigades is blamed for yesterday’s massacre in which dozens of LNA fighters died. Sent to Fezzan in January 2014, it is still in control of Tamenhint airbase northeast of Sebha.
For its part, the lawmakers’ statement is seen as a desperate attempt by the city’s political leadership to distance Misrata from the massacre and avoid retribution.
The move, however, was already being undermined by Battalion No 13. In an phone interview with Al-Ahrar TV last night, the battalion’s spokesman, Mohamed Gliwan, admitted that it had been involved in the Brak airbase operation. This was because the LNA was planning to use it to launch attacks against the battalion and its allies at Tamenhint and elsewhere. The battalion had attacked the base, destroyed the forces there and then withdrawn, he said.
Meanwhile, on the battalion’s Facebook page, which still bears the name of the Third Force, there has been a spate of posts justifying the attack on the basis that the LNA’s 12th Battalion and its leader Mohamed Ben Nayel had constantly attacked the Misratan forces and their allies, that he was not to be trusted and that he was about to launch a fresh attack.
Battalion No. 13 also rejected reports that they had summarily executed LNA soldiers, despite evidence to the contrary.
For their part, the battalion’s allies in the attack, the Benghazi Defence Brigades, proudly declared on Twitter their role  in the capture of the airbase, announcing that they had captured mercenaries employed there by Hafter.
Meanwhile, LNA reaction has been swift with Khalifa Hafter sending troops to bolster his own 12th Battalion. His air force today has also bombed the Jufra airbase from which the units that attacked Brak and carried out the massacre are believed to have set out and to which they returned when they later pulled out.