Friday, February 25, 2011

Libya: 2,000 reported killed in Benghazi, 1,000 in Tripoli

By ASSOCIATED PRESS AND JPOST.COM STAFF , The Jerusalm Post, 02/23/2011 19:32

“They carried out a real massacre,” French doctor says; Fighter pilots crash planes rather than strike protesters.

Militiamen loyal to Moammar Gaddafi clamped down in Tripoli, with the sound of gunfire ringing in the air, while protesters who control much of the eastern half of Libya claimed new gains in cities and towns closer to the heart of Gaddafi’s regime in the capital.
Protesters said they had taken over Misrata, which would be the largest city in the western half in the country to fall into their hands. Clashes broke out over the past two days in the town of Sabratha, west of the capital, where the army and militiamen were trying to put down protesters who overwhelmed security headquarters and government buildings, a news website close to the government reported.

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A French doctor working in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi told Le Point Magazine that over 2,000 people were killed in that city alone in the past days of fighting, AFP reported.
“From Tobruk to Darna, they carried out a real massacre… In total, I think there are more than 2,000 deaths,” he said.


The 60-year-old anesthetist who has been living in the Libyan city for over a year, said that one the first day of fighting in Benghazi, “out ambulances counted 75 bodies…200 on the second [day], then more than 500.” On the third day, he added, “I ran out of morphine and medications,” according to the report.

Two air force pilots jumped from parachutes from their Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jet and let it crash, rather than carry out orders to bomb Libya’s second largest city, Benghazi, which is now in opposition hands, the website Quryna reported, citing an unidentified officer in the air force control room.

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