Libyans protest against US raids in Al Uwaynat

BENGHAZI: Dozens of Libyans protested against a US air strike on suspected Al Qaeda militants in the country’s southwestern desert, saying civilians had been targeted, witnesses said.

The US Africa Command (Africom) last Thursday said it had killed 11 Al Qaeda militants near the town of Al Uwaynat in its third strike since March on the militant group’s North African branch.

The strike close to the Algerian border, destroyed three vehicles, Africom had said in its statement last week, adding that at the time, they had assessed “no civilians were injured or killed.”

Members of the ethnic Tuareg tribe living in the area staged a protest on Tuesday, calling on the Tripoli-based government to launch an investigation into the strike.

The protesters, among them women and children, held up pamphlets saying “Africom attacked civilians,” and “Africom is killing our sons”, witnesses and participants told Reuters.

Militants linked to Al Qaeda and Daesh have sought refuge in Libya’s vast southern desert as the country struggles to restore stability seven years after the uprising that toppled Muammar QADHAI.

TERMINALS CLOSED

Libyan state oil company NOC said on Wednesday all the country’s oil export terminals were closed due to bad weather.

Storage capacity at Zawiya terminal was critically low and production may have to be curbed on Thursday as a result, the NOC said in a statement.

NOC expects to cut production from THE SHARARA oilield By HALF, or 150,000 barrels, starting from 9 am local time on Thursday. A port engineer told Reuters earlier on Wednesday that several eastern Libyan oil ports, including Es Sider and Ras Lanuf were closed due to bad weather. NL8N1YA15A

An airport source also said the airport in the main eastern city of Benghazi was closed due to heavy rain.