The powerful Islamist militia Washington blames for an attack on its Benghazi consulate was swept from its heavily fortified bases in Libya’s second city in a mass popular uprising in support of the government early today.
The action against Ansar al-Sharia appeared to be part of a co-ordinated sweep of militia headquarters buildings by police, government troops and activists following a mass public demonstration against militia units yesterday.
At least four people were killed and 34 wounded, hospital sources said, as militants fought demonstrators. Gunfire could be heard in the area before the fighters were forced out.
Looters carried weapons out of the vacated Ansar al-Sharia military base compound as men clapped and chanted: “Say to Ansar al-Sharia, Benghazi will be your inferno.”
Ansar al-Sharia has been linked to the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi last week in which the US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans died. It denies involvement.
Chanting “Libya, Libya”, “No more al-Qaeda!” and “The blood we shed for freedom shall not go in vain!” hundreds of men waving swords and even a meat cleaver, stormed Ansar al-Sharia’s headquarters in Benghazi.
“After what happened at the American consulate, the people of Benghazi had enough of the extremists,” demonstrator Hassan Ahmed said.
“They did not give allegiance to the army. So the people broke in and they fled.” Demonstrators pulled down militia flags and set a vehicle on fire inside what was once the base of former leader Muammar Gadafy’s security forces who tried to put down the first protests that sparked last year’s uprising.
Libyan protesters ousted a jihadist militia from its headquarters and seized a raft of other paramilitary bases in second city Benghazi early Saturday in heavy clashes that left four people dead.
The seizure of the headquarters of Ansar al-Sharia — which has been accused of, but denied, involvement in the murder of US Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans last week — came after tens of thousands took to the streets on Friday to protest against the power of the militias.
The group’s members took flight as hundreds of protesters stormed and then torched its compound, and also evicted it from the city’s Al-Jalaa hospital, where they were replaced by military police, an AFP correspondent reported.
But to the alarm of senior officials, the demonstrators also stormed a raft of other paramilitary bases in the city controlled by former rebel units that had declared their loyalty to the central government.
It was at one such base — the headquarters of the Raf Allah al-Sahati Brigade, an Islamist unit under the authority of the defence ministry — that the four people were killed in clashes between its fighters and hundreds of protesters, some of them armed.
Around 70 people were wounded during the overnight violence, medics at Benghazi’s three main hospitals said.
Worried Libyan authorities called on the demonstrators to distinguish between “illegitimate” brigades and those who are under state control, warning that the neutralisation of loyal units risked “chaos”.
The warning highlighted the dilemma facing the Libyan government a year after the overthrow of veteran dictator Moamer Kadhafi — while militias pose the biggest threat to its authority, its fledgling new security forces are dependent on former rebel units that fought in the uprising.
The trigger for the assault on the paramilitaries was a “Save Benghazi” protest after the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday that was joined by some 30,000 peaceful demonstrators.
It drowned out a smaller rally attended by just a few hundred people called by the jihadists and hardline Islamists angry over a US-made film that mocks Islam and cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by a French magazine.
Demonstrators paid tribute to Ambassador Stevens and the other Americans killed in the September 11 assault on the US consulate in the city that Washington now says was a “terrorist” attack.
“Libya lost a friend,” read one banner. “We want justice for Stevens,” said another.
Jihadist militants of Ansar al-Sharia fired in the air as they retreated from their headquarters in the face of the overwhelmingly superior numbers of the protesters.
Also blogging…Allahpundit at HotAir
If this proves itself to be a genuine and continuous movement I will re-access my position on the religion of “peace”. This is the first serious movement of muslims “on the street” I’m aware of in opposition to the islamofacists. Good for them, I hope it’s real and I hope it spreads.
The people and the weak government are allowing these two Islamist groups to ”disband.”
Remember when we were forced by Turkey to only invade Iraq from the south?
That gave Saddam’s Baathists plenty of time to melt into the civilian population, disbanding, so to speak.
Same thing here.
Perhaps these Islamists can be kept under the thumbs of the masses of moderates in Libya, perhaps not.
One thing is for sure, they are not going away, they are merely not fighting a stand-up battle.
If they sense weakness they will easily be able to come together and try to take advantage again.
But, short-term, this is a good thing.
Ya gotta love those Benghazis!
J.G IRISH 13-6 4-0
Aqua Seminoles very impressive comeback.
Semper Fi
I’m sure there are a multitude of similar demonstrations against this violence put on my muslim groups here in the US. . . wonder why nobody ever hears about them?
@Richard Wheeler:
After three warm-up games against high school teams, the Noles had to adapt to playing a real college team. They did ok.
I had a friend in the military that spent some time in Libya prior to Pan Am flight 103. He said the people were very western-like. We’ll see what happens. I hope they keep it up. It only takes a spark.
Keep in mind a lot of the Muslims in Iraq didn’t put up with the crap from the fanatics either. They wanted nothing to do with them. In order to stomp out these animals, it will require Muslims to stand up to them. We can only go so far with bombing, drone strikes, and boots on the ground, unless of course we go all out and try to eliminate them en masse. The other Muslims know who and where these problem children are and how to get to them better than we do. If they want to be respected by everyone else, they need to step up to the plate more often.
Is there a whisper of freedom on the horizon, despite the lunacy of Barack and Hillary.
Where there was only despair
Liberty is but a faint whisper
Does freedom have a chair
At Muslim table of mayhem and disorder
Of one thing we can be damn sure
The Obama Administration lies
Even if the truth would offer a cure
A comic fortune teller’s lying eyes,
Offers no less trust for us to endure
@JustAl:
I’m guessing you’re being sarcastic JustAl. I haven’t found any anti-Muslim violence or protests happening in the US whatsoever. And none at all regarding the murder of Americans in the middle east, the attacks on our embassies, the bigoted Islamic radical’s attacks on Christian’s and churches in the Middle East, or for missile attacks and car bombs in Israel, nor for the burning of our flag or president “in effigy” (although there are quit a few here who would sympathize with the last).
@Ditto: One thing Obama doesn’t seem to understand is that despite his apologies and his trying to be liked by everyone over there, they would kill him just as fast as they would Bush.
another vet, I… for one… am under no delusion that the Benghazis are doing this on behalf of the US or Ambassador Stevens, but for their own purposes. But I’ll take any slapping down of Islamists that comes along. And even better if it’s by the Muslims themselves.
Speaking of Muslims slapping down Islamists, the Pakistani government slapped down the Islamist official who put a bounty on Bacile/Nakoula’s head. Signs of resistance to the fundamental loons seem to be cropping up here and there. That’s good.
@MataHarley: It’s kind of hard to tell what is going on over there. We are obviously being lied to on this end for political reasons. Tomorrow it’ll have been two weeks since the attacks and no one is on the the same sheet of music. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if the militias don’t meet the deadlines. It’s kind of like the old westerns when you think about it.