Ashraf Abdul-Wahab TRIPOLI – Zintan Local Council has condemned the Zintani military unit that attacked members of the Jaramina tribe in Derj near Ghadames on Thursday. It resulted in the deaths of at least 11 people and forced several hundred of the Jaramina to flee across the border to Algeria for safety. In a statement yesterday, it disassociated itself from the “heinous” actions of the unit whom it said did not represent Zintan. The council's spokesman, Omar Matuk, branded them as “criminals”. Several dozen Libyan families, including women, children and old people, crossed the border to the Algerian border post of Dabdab, south of Ghadames, on Thursday after their homes were destroyed by the Zintani unit. Algerian security forces let through some 200 of them who were carrying legal documentation with them. Others without papers were initially held. According to sources, the fighting started after an altercation between a Zintani and a member of the Jaramina, a local Arab tribe. At least four of the dead were Zintanis who then set out to deliberately destroy Jaramina homes in an attempt to force the tribe out of Derj, some 100 kilometres east of Ghadames. It was reported yesterday that, despite the condemnation from Zintan Local Council, the Zintanis in Derj were still demolishing Jaramina homes. – Libya Herald
