{"id":33181,"date":"2019-02-25T14:27:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-25T14:27:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=33181"},"modified":"2019-02-25T14:27:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T14:27:29","slug":"haftar-forces-killed-civilians-in-libya-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=33181","title":{"rendered":"Haftar forces &#8216;killed civilians&#8217; in Libya attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"body-200771816342556199\" readability=\"106.288953488\">\n<p class=\"speakable\">At least 19 people have been killed in southern <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/topics\/country\/libya.html\">Libya<\/a>, according to a member of parliament, as forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar fought for control of oilfields in the region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Speaking to Al Jazeera late on Sunday, Mohamed Linu, a member of Libya&#8217;s internationally recognised parliament, said Haftar&#8217;s Libyan National Army (LNA) killed civilians, including children, and set fire to more than 30 houses in the southern city of Murzuq, including his own.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The politician said that farms were also destroyed and more than 100 cars were stolen.<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera could not independently confirm the report.<\/p>\n<p>The battle for Murzuq, a city 900km south of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, is the first battle for a city fought by the LNA since it started a campaign to take control of oilfields in the south a month ago.<\/p>\n<p>Haftar, whose power base is in the city of Benghazi, leads the LNA, which controls the east of the North African nation, along with its major oil ports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The renegade general has become a major player in Libya since his forces seized Benghazi in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Capturing the city of Murzuk will allow the LNA to secure control of the el-Sharara oilfield, which produces 315,000 barrels a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera&#8217;s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Tripoli, said\u00a0Murzuq was also &#8220;strategic&#8221; for the LNA because it was a hub for the Tabu tribesmen, who oppose Haftar, and are a &#8220;connecting link between Libya, Niger, and Chad&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The area around Muruzuq has a lot of oil and groundwater,&#8221; he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Haftar&#8217;s LNA is allied to a parallel administration based in the east and is locked in conflict with rival forces over control of the OPEC member country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"32\">\n<p>\n            SOURCE:<br \/>\n            <span>Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At least 19 people have been killed in southern Libya, according to a member of parliament, as forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar fought for control of oilfields in the region. Speaking to Al Jazeera late on Sunday, Mohamed Linu, a member of Libya&#8217;s internationally recognised parliament, said Haftar&#8217;s Libyan National Army (LNA) killed civilians,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":33182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}