Libya’s Tripoli-based government said on Sunday that it has arrested five people over a run of drone attacks on a major energy complex. Foreigners are among them. Officials have not named the detainees or said where they come from.
The government says the arrests uncovered a “vast plot” and that the attacks were part of a coordinated campaign. In its account, the five belonged to a “sabotage cell” that also planned to hit a power station south of Tripoli and other vital facilities.
Fire at Zawiya
The attacks centred on the Zawiya complex, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of Tripoli. In August a drone strike set a large petrol reservoir there on fire, according to the state-owned National Oil Corporation. The reservoir belongs to Libya’s second-largest refinery, which can process 120,000 barrels a day.
More drone strikes on Zawiya followed. On Thursday, the oil company said, another attack on fuel tanks outside Tripoli was thwarted.
A divided country
Libya holds the largest oil reserves in Africa, yet violence and instability have dogged it since Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011. Two governments now claim power. One is the UN-recognised administration in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah. The other sits in the east and is backed by military commander Khalifa Haftar.
Sources
- Libya Arrests Five Over Refinery Drone Strikes – Voice of Nigeria
- Libya arrests five over drone attacks on oil complex
