On January 23, two booby-trapped cars exploded in the front of the Biya’at al-Ruduan mosque in the center of Libya’s Benghazi after the end of the night prayers, according to the UAE-based al-Arabiya TV. The outlet reported that at least 41 civilians were killed and more than 80 others were injured in the double-tape terrorist attack.
Spokesman for the Central Security Room in Benghazi Lieutenant Tarek al-Kharraz confirmed that Ahmed Ali al-Fitouri, a commander of the Special Arrest and Investigation Unit of the Libyan National Army (LNA), was killed in the attack. Lt. al-Kharraz also revealed that Brigadier General Mahdi al-Falah, a deputy head of the LNA intelligence service, was slightly injured in the attack.
An unnamed Libyan security source told al-Arabiya that the terrorist attack was planned colorfully to target several security and military commanders of the LNA.
In response to the attack, Major Mahmoud al-Warfali, a commander of the LNA’s Sa’ka forces, ordered to execute 10 prisoners of ISIS in front of the Biya’at al-Ruduan mosque on January 24. The UN condemned the public execution in a official statements few hours later.
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So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the brutal attack in Benghazi. However, Libyan sources believe that cells of ISIS or the Shura Council of Mujahedeen in Derna could be behind the attack.
Benghazi was fully cleared from terrorists on December 28, when the LNA captured the Khreibish district, which had been the last position of the Shura Council of Mujahedeen Beinghazi [a coalition of different radical groups].
