Reply #82: Libyan Media Minders Nervous After Guard’s Death

[pinboy3niner]

Source: New York Times

By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

Published: June 20, 2011


TRIPOLI, Libya — Reports that a guard at the hotel housing foreign journalists here had been fatally shot sent a tremor of anxiety through Qaddafi government media operation here on Monday. While Qaddafi loyalists said the guard accidentally shot himself with his own weapon while eating a late dinner at the end of the hotel two days earlier, at least two people working for the government said on condition of anonymity that he was killed by rebel snipers.


The guard had been assigned to protect a prominent state television commentator known for his outspoken attacks on the rebels who has taken refuge with his family inside the safety of the hotel because of death threats against him. The commentator, Yousef Shakeer, said in a brief interview that the government had identified his would-be assassin as a past member of the Libyan Islamist Fighting Group — a jihadist group that dates back years — and he affirmed the government’s account that the guard accidentally shot himself on Saturday night.


While the details of the shooting could not be confirmed, it came amid growing reports of episodes of violence between local rebels challenging the government of Col. Muammar el- Qaddafi and his security forces. Some Tripoli residents said Monday that the sense of danger from the ground is compounding the effect of the escalation of NATO strikes from above.

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And residents of Tripoli continued to describe hard-to-confirm bursts of violence in the capital as well. On Friday a Qaddafi soldier in the rebellious neighborhood of Souq al-Juma told a reporter that he feared for his life after a nighttime rebel guerrilla attack had killed a fellow soldier and seriously wounded another. Residents of the same neighborhood later told CNN that Qaddafi forces had killed three people who had tried to protest there on Friday.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/21/world/africa/21libya.html