23 Sep 2012

Six Libyan forces executed in Benghazi

4:04 pm on 23 September 2012

Six members of Libya's security forces who were apparently "executed" were among 11 people killed in this weekend's clashes in Benghazi between protesters and a militia linked to the defence ministry.

A medical examiner says from the nature of the wounds it is clear that the six were executed.

The medical examiner, who works at the Benghazi Medical Centre morgue, says all six worked in the army or police, according to relatives who identified the bodies.

Around 70 people were wounded in the overnight violence, according to medics at Benghazi's three main hospitals, who earlier had given a death toll of four only.

On Friday, thousands of protesters seized the headquarters of the Salafist group Ansar al-Sharia, as well as a raft of other paramilitary bases in Benghazi, Libya's second city.

Ansar al-Sharia has been accused of involvement in the murder of the United States ambassador Chris Stevens and three other diplomatic staff members who were killed when the consulate in Benghazi was attacked on 11 September.