Retired colonel found dead in Benghazi

By Nihal Zaroug.

Tripoli, 6 November:

A retired colonel from the Qaddafi-era, Abdel Kareem Warfalli, has been found murdered at his farm in Benghazi’s Venice Street.

Warfalli’s body was discovered at around 4pm on Sunday with fatal gunshots to the head and chest, reported a security officer.

Investigations into the crime are underway and a source in Benghazi, who was perplexed by the murder, told Libya Herald  that this was not similar to the assassinations of other former and current members of Libya’s military, but rather a random crime. Warfalli, who was 60, was known to be a good man, added the source. He was believed to have backed the revolution from the beginning, lending his military expertise to the rebels.

It is commonly supposed  in Benghazi that there is a hit list of military officials, particularly those who served the former regime. If Warfalli’s death was indeed premeditated, it would raise to 17, the number of murders of security personnel. The last assassination, on 30 October  in Derna, claimed the life of Khaled Assafi Adil, the former head of the city’s People Revolutionary Committee under Qaddaffi.

On Monday, Hamid Al-Hassi, the military head of Cyrenaica’s transitional council, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Benghazi. The assault by unknown gunmen, caused the death of one of his guards and injured two others.