By Libya Herald staff.
Benghazi, 22 October:
There has been widespread amazement at the announcement last night by the city’s Joint Operations . . .[restrict]Room spokesman Abdullah Zeidi that a group of Chadians, arrested near a cement plant yesterday, was responsible for the wave of assassinations in the city of security officials.
Zeidi today told the Libya Herald that seven Chadians had been arrested and that they had previously been mercenaries working for the Qaddafi regime. He named the group that had arrested them as Al-Saraya Al-Shuhada brigade.
Benghazi residents say they had never heard of brigade.
Some people said they believed the report, convinced that the city was being deliberately destabilised by pro-Qaddafio forces. Others did not, pouring scorn on the notion that those arrested were part of Fifth-Column Qaddafi force in the city. Many saw the announcement as an attempt to divert attention from the clashes between the Barghathi and the Islamists. [/restrict]