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By Jamal Adel.
Kufra, 5 September 2014:
Brief clashes have come to an end with calm restored in Sebha over . . .[restrict]the last 24 hours following sporadic violence in some areas of the town.
The fighting began on Wednesday night and lasted until Thursday morning after Misratan troops from Libya Central Shield along with members of the Awlad Suleiman tribe set up a checkpoint in Al-Nasreya road, a majority Tebu area, a local resident told the Libya Herald.
The Third Force of Misratans arrived in Sebha at the beginning of the year to act as a buffer between the Awlad Suleiman and Tebu who were involved in protracted conflict that simmered for months before erupting in weeks of mortar exchanges and running gun battles.
Residents of Al-Nasreya road forced the checkpoint guards to leave. There was some gunfire but it was done largely without incident and with no casualties, this newspaper was told.
The worst violence of the night occurred later in the town’s Al-Satah district. Clashes erupted between Awlad Suleiman and the Qaddafa tribe in the majority Qaddafa area, allegedly again over the setting up of another checkpoint.
Two combatants, one from either side, were injured in the fighting but the number of casualties was lower than reported elsewhere.
Sebha has been relatively calm in recent months, unaffected by recent battles in Tripoli and Benghazi. There are fears, however, that violence could return if Misratan forces use Sebha, where they have been positioned for several months, as a launch pad for a reportedly planned attempts to take over oil and gas facilities in south western Libya.
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