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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 26 May 2013
The Counter Crime Agency was told not to intervene this evening ,when a group of masked . . .[restrict]gunmen began shooting in Gargaresh shortly before 9pm.
One witness writing on social media, said people were running everywhere as the bullets flew. Some of the gunmen wore masks. Shopkeepers ran into their stores and pulled down their shutters, while the street was once again blocked with rubbish.
It is unclear what prompted this latest outbreak of violence in the area that abuts the run-down Al-Hindidistrict but there were reports that the gunmen wanted the authorities to hand over the police officer who had shot and killed a suspected drug dealer. This man may have died in the heavy exchanges of gunfire when the Counter Crime Agency, also referred to as the Tripoli Deterrence Force, tried unsuccessfully to raid the Al-Hindi area last Wednesday, to clean out drugs and alcohol dens.
The head of media at the Tripoli Joint Security Room, Essam Anaas this evening told the Libya Herald that the Counter Crime Agency had been told not to intervene in Gargaresh until further notice. He had no information on the incident. The shooting however, appears to have stopped within half an hour and the masked gunmen, of whose numbers there has been no report, melted away into the night.
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