Gaddafi arms Libyan 'home guard' – minimum age 17

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Source: The Guardian

Muammar Gaddafi is arming Libyan 17-year-olds to build a "home front" against Nato military intervention and the possibility of rebels from the east of the country reaching largely loyalist towns and cities in the west.

As part of the drive towards an unofficial civilian army, the government is releasing thousands of AK-47 assault rifles into communities and is organising classes in the use of weapons.

At a women's training centre in the town of Sbia, 30 miles south of Tripoli, young women crowded round a trestle table as a soldier wearing camouflage fatigues and thick red lipstick demonstrated how to field-strip and reassemble the guns.

Officials said the minimum age for weapons training was 17, although the centre was crowded with girls as young as seven who were schooled in loyalist chants and waving portraits of Gaddafi.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/27/gaddafi-arms-17-libyan-nato