By Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 23 January 2014:
The Sarir oilfield was attacked by an armed group this evening and, during clashes with army . . .[restrict]units guarding the field, a main power line connecting the Sarir power station to a number of towns and cities was cut.
Heavy weaponry was used in the attack and missiles were fired into the oilfield, Saleh Mohammed, commanding officer for the army’s 25th Brigade, which is responsible for guarding a number of facilities in the region, told the Libya Herald.
He said that no oil tanks were hit in the clashes, during which army troops were able to repel the attackers, but that a main power line was cut. This line, he said, carried power into the national grid, connecting the Sarir power plant with Benghazi and a number of towns including Kufra and Jalo.
The attack is thought to have been part of ongoing clashes in the region between the Zwai and Tebu tribes. These have been destabilising the area and led, on Monday, to workers evacuating the Sarir power plant, leading to its temporary closure.
Earlier today, Fraj Bu-Jufool, the head of the self-named ‘Operation Room for the Liberation of the South’ – an armed group from the local Zawi tribe – announced that he, along with another group called 427 Brigade, had liberated the Sarir and Messla oilfields.
This was denied by spokespersons for the army units at the two oilfields. It now appears that when Bu-Jufool made the announcement, his forces were actually preparing for this evening’s attack.
It is believed that the attackers were from the same armed group which attacked Sarir farm – an agricultural project north of Kufra – on 21 December. [/restrict]
