Gaddafi hit list revealed
2011-08-02 22:24
Benghazi - Libyan rebels have uncovered a hit list with the names and addresses of about 60 of their leaders, during an operation to smoke out a suspected pro-Gaddafi sleeper cell, officials told AFP on Tuesday.
Files with sensitive information about key members of the rebels' political and military leadership were found at the headquarters of a Benghazi-based brigade - now believed to have been secretly allied to Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
"There were around 60 people [on the list]," deputy interior minister Mustafa al-Sagazly told AFP, including "members of the [National Transitional Council], the military council, the cabinet of the NTC executive."
"There were names and addresses," he said, "some of the addresses were correct."
The list was found during a operation against the Katiba Nida Libya - or Libya's Call Brigade - which is suspected of being a pro-Gaddafi cell that masqueraded as one of the plethora of loosely-linked volunteer units that make up the rebel army.
"They were a very serious threat," said NTC spokesperson Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, "they had a camp that was very well armed, with ammunition, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, explosives and enough food supplies for weeks."
"They planned to spread death and destruction across Benghazi."
The group, whose exact number is not known, came under suspicion after being linked to an audacious Benghazi jail break that resulted in the escape of as many as 300 inmates, including some high value prisoners of war.
Fifth column
At dawn on Sunday rebel security forces staged a five-hour raid on a Benghazi licence plate factory where the group was holed up, leaving four rebels and five Gaddafi loyalists dead.
Sagazly said that 37 members of the brigade had since been arrested, along with at least 69 of their escapee allies.
Libya's rebels have long feared a "fifth column" operating within rebel strongholds, but those fears have reached fever pitch in the last week after the assassination of the rebel military chief of staff Abdel Fatah Yunis.
Sagazly said Yunis - who was shot under suspicious circumstances and his body found dumped early Friday - had been on Nida's hit list, but it was not at all clear that they were behind his killing.
But with some members of rogue unit still thought to be at large, even a possible link is being taken seriously. Security details for senior members of the NTC have being reinforced.
Since the February 17 revolution there have been at least two explosions to hit hotels in Benghazi and many more failed attacks.
Security officials in July told AFP that a car bomb had targeted NTC vice chairman Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, the rebel's most visible leader.
Another pick-up truck laden with around 30-40kg of plastic explosives was discovered in the car park of the upscale Tibesti Hotel near the centre of the rebel capital.
The hotel is home to many European diplomats and is frequented by members of the NTC as well as journalists.