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29 March 2024

Suspected killer of Libya's ex-rebel chief escapes

People gather to inspect the damage to the Libyan Intelligence building following an explosion in downtown Benghazi on August 1 , 2012, causing no fatalities or injuries. (AFP)

Published
By AP

A security official says gunmen have stormed a jail in the Libyan city of Benghazi and freed the suspected killer of former rebel chief Abdel-Fattah Younis.

The Interior Ministry official said Muslim militant Salem al-Obeidi was freed when the gunmen stormed Benghazi's Kowaifiyah prison Tuesday night.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, had no further details.

The incident underlines Libya's tenuous security situation nearly a year after the ouster of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, with former rebels refusing to lay down their arms and operating as the de facto government in many parts of the vast Arab nation.

Younis served as Gadhafi's interior minister until he joined the anti-regime uprising last year. He was killed in July 2011.