By Sami Zaptia.
Tunis, 16 December 2015:
The Rada brigade or Special Deterrent Force (SDF) has released a video broadast on Libyan TV channels . . .[restrict]last night showing five IS suspects confessing to carrying out seven major terror operations in Tripoli.
The video comes on the back of an another video released earlier this month in which an arrested IS member reveals details of IS movements and activities in Libya.
The slick video and the Facebook page of the Rada brigade underscores the need and importance of media output in today’s age by both the alleged terror groups and their foes such as Rada.
The 42-minute video entitled ‘‘Execution Orders’’ shows five alleged IS members apparently confessing in great detail to their recruitment, loyalty oath, surveillance and execution operations in Tripoli.
The confessors admitted to carrying out the terror operations at the Egyptian, UAE and Algerian embassies as well as to the Corinthia hotel, the UN mission, the Tripoli Security Directorate and the Diplomatic Police HQ attack.
Rada said that it arrested the group after a long intelligence and surveillance operation in Tripoli during which they followed and gathered information on the group members.
The five suspects are all Libyan except for one dual Algerian national and a Tunisian national. They were variously converted and swore an oat of allegiance in Syria, Sirte and Derna. Their orders to attack and the choice of targets all came from Sirte they claimed.
They revealed how they bought their cars from Busleem car market and how they used an empty plot of land in the Salah al Deen / Ain Zara area as their base. They also said they bought their mobile SIM cards from the Madar road in Tripoli, using a SIM card only once before disposing of it.
They also revealed how they would prepare their 6 kg explosives in bags and how they would carry out surveillance on their target before executing an operation.
The Rada video showed CCTV footage showing how the group were carrying out surveillance of the Algerian embassy before parking next to it, calmly getting out of the car and placing the explosive bag next to the embassy before driving off. After a while, they phone through their mobile to detonate the explosive.
They explained that the explosions were not meant to kill or destroy as opposed to catch media headlines and for this reason there is usually a separate car tasked with filming their operations.
The slick video production was also a partial marketing tool for Rada brigade which is nominally under government control and part of the Ministry of Interior, but operates with much autonomy under its leader Abdel Rauf Kara. [/restrict]
