Libya: "Islamic Emirate of Barqa" seizes arms, takes hostages

This is a sizable group -- on Friday members of it seized 70 military vehicles. Now they've taken grenade launchers and kalashnikovs, with the collusion of a Colonel in the Army -- which is yet another indication of the fact that such groups' claims to Islamic authenticity and rigor find a positive reception across a broad spectrum of the population in Muslim countries, including among those who are currently serving the regimes these groups have vowed to replace. "Libyan Islamists seize arms, take hostages," from AFP, February 21:

Islamist gunmen have stormed a military arms depot and a nearby port in Libya and seized numerous weapons and army vehicles after killing four soldiers, a security official says.
The group also took several hostages, both soldiers and civilians, and is "threatening to execute them unless a siege by security forces is lifted" in Al-Baida, the official told AFP on Sunday, asking not to be named.

"This criminal gang assaulted an army weapons depot and seized 250 weapons, killed four soldiers and wounded 16 others" in the Wednesday operation in Derna, which lies east of Al-Baida and 1300km from Tripoli.

"Army Colonel Adnan al-Nwisri joined them and provided them with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, three pieces of anti-aircraft artillery and 70 Kalashnikov" assault rifles, the source said.

On Friday, he said they attacked the port in Derna and seized an assortment of 70 military vehicles.

It was not immediately clear who the civilians were or where they had been taken hostage.

The group calls itself the "Islamic Emirate of Barqa" after the ancient name of a region of northwest Libya, and the official said its leadership is made up of former al-Qaeda fighters previously released from jail.

The official said the same group was responsible for the hanging of two policemen in Al-Baida on Friday that was reported in Oea newspaper....

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12 Comments

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geekpuk2 | February 21, 2011 5:12 AM | Reply

Oh dear

Another desert despot quaking in his boots now?

This should get interesting.

Thomas Pellow | February 21, 2011 6:01 AM | Reply

"Libya ablaze: State buildings on fire after 'massacre' as snipers hit crowds"

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23924941-david-cameron-condemns-libya-200-massacred-for-gaddafi-protests.do

"Libya: Violent Protests Paralyse Tripoli"

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Libya-Violent-Protests-Paralyse-Country-As-Colonel-Gaddafis-Son-Threatens-Civil-War/Article/201102315937579?lpos=World_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15937579_Libya%3A_Violent_Protests_Paralyse_Country_As_Colonel_Gaddafis_Son_Threatens_Civil_War

Steffen Larsen | February 21, 2011 6:19 AM | Reply

I saw a bit from Libyan State Television some days ago where the newsreader blamed .....1-2-3, all together now ...the JOOOZ and the USA for the troubles. It's always someone else.

In a couple days he'll probably blame the same for having supported Gaddafi and his offspring - that son of his is a marvel!

Imagine Gaddafi to be in so much trouble so fast! Btw, have you noticed that Arabian governments become "regimes" in the media a few days before they are about to be toppled?

Kaddafi_Delenda_Est | February 21, 2011 6:34 AM | Reply

Wonder what side SAS-trained Libyans have taken?

FLASHBACK 2009: Allies and Enemies

…SAS has been training Gaddafi’s soldiers, which some within the SAS find distasteful for many reasons, not least of all the fact that the Col’s regime,

for years provided Republican terrorists with the Semtex explosive, machine-guns and anti-aircraft missiles used against British troops during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Talk about asking for trouble. The SAS + Libyan troops = nothing good

Have we learned nothing from enabling vicious leaders elsewhere to become even more malicious in intent and capable in action?

duh_swami | February 21, 2011 6:42 AM | Reply

I bet Gaddafi is not worried about egg roles now...he has bigger problems...I heard an interview yesterday with a Libyan on the street in Tripoli...He said that 30,000 African troops from Sudan were killing Libyan protesters...

Bob | February 21, 2011 7:22 AM | Reply

Islam, as a system, can rely on a huge, unpaid, unseen, unorganized, individually acting, empowered to act, widely distributed group of highly motivated devout believers who are willing to kill in order to keep Islam the way it is.

Read it all at http://islamsfatalflaw.blogspot.com/

Kepha | February 21, 2011 7:24 AM | Reply

This is another fight in which the USA doesn't have a dog. I could really care less about what happens to the very poisonous Col. Qadaffyduck. He'll probably be replaced by another despot cut from the same burqa.

I just hope that the advanced nations take this round of troubles as an excellent excuse to cut off the waste of their taxpayers' money in aid to these stupid countries and let the Arab world stew in its own Islamic juices for a while.

Finally, while I believe that the Chosen People of God are gathered around the feet of Jesus the Messiah, not in the land between the Jordan and the Med, I think it would still be a good idea to back Israel. Maybe seeing the Islamicists get their butts handed to them by the Israelis (as happened to monarchs and socialist nationalists before them) will get the stretch of the world between Mauretania and Mindanao to open its eyes to the silliness that is Islam.

pulsar182 | February 21, 2011 8:13 AM | Reply

"and the official said its leadership is made up of former al-Qaeda fighters previously released from jail."

It certainly didn't take long for recent "escapees" to find employment...

"This is a sizable group -- on Friday members of it seized 70 military vehicles..."

It's amazing what happens in the Islamic world after Friday prayers...

"... another indication of the fact that such groups' claims to Islamic authenticity and rigor find a positive reception across a broad spectrum of the population in Muslim countries, including among those who are currently serving the regimes these groups have vowed to replace."

self promoting Muslims following the teaching of their religion...Islam.....I notice no Muslim groups or leading individuals are fighting the Muslim attackers...

Infidel | February 21, 2011 8:27 AM | Reply

Fantastic news. Only thing I'd have preferred - that it have happened in Tripoli itself, instead of a city near the border w/ Egypt.

Yeah, let's hope this one falls as well. If it becomes Islamic, well... It's not like Gadaffi, w/ his support to terrorists like Abu Nidal, was much better. Then you'll have an Islamic empire comprising Somalia, N Sudan, Egypt, Libya & Tunisia. Guess Algeria will soon follow, whether their rulers like it or not.

In the meantime, let other fiefdoms like Yemen collapse (who was the moron who described Yemen's regime as pro-US? This is the country that refused to let US go after those who were behind the USS Cole attack, and where al Qaeda prisoners broke loose, to be hunted down later by Predator aircraft) Don't really care. Let the Islamic emirate or Burqha (don't they have Islamic emirates of Jilbab, Niqab, Chador, et al?) or the Islamic emirate of Sirte, or the Islamic sultanate of Tripoli, or the Islamic sheikhdom of Bengazi, or any other such entity take over! You're worried about oil? Well, Libya can't do much if foreign operators of their oil companies leave.

Besides, if people are going to cheer the 'democratic uprisings' in Tunis, Cairo, Manama, that oust pro-US regimes, why not continue cheering on the potential ouster of anti-US regimes like in Tripoli, Sanaa, and potentially Damascus?

PMK | February 21, 2011 8:54 AM | Reply

Islamists are rebelling. Islamists are taking hostages. This is a struggle for power, not a fight for freedom.

It's more like a gang fight than anything else. Does it matter who comes out on top?

Libyans will have to make their own decisions. Here's hoping our brave marines aren't sent "to the shores of Tripoli".

gravenimage | February 21, 2011 12:01 PM | Reply

Seizing arms, taking hostages, and murdering rival soldiers—what could be more "Islamic"?

From the article:

The group also took several hostages, both soldiers and civilians, and is "threatening to execute them unless a siege by security forces is lifted" in Al-Baida, the official told AFP on Sunday, asking not to be named.
................................

Once again, the most devout Muslims banking on others—Infidels, or merely their less crazed coreligionists—being more decent than they are, and actually caring about the fate of innocent hostages.

Odd that the "Islamic Emirate of Barqa" wouldn't have any concerns about their popularity with the Libyan people after taking hostages and threatening to execute them.

But then, why should they? Muslims so seldom seem to hold this against the "brave Mujahideen"—you find this phenomenon all over Dar-al-Islam.

Muslims killing Muslims seems to be largely regarded as Halal.

And what of "Barqa"? Cyrenaica was largely Christian—Coptic and Greek Orthodox, with a large Jewish minority—when it was conquered by Muslim Arabs under the auspices of the second "Rightly-Guided Caliph" Omer Bin Khattab in 644. The region became known as Barqah after its new provincial capital, the ancient city of Barce.

Barqa was, in fact, one of the earliest regions to fall to the Muslim hordes. It went from a center of classical and Christian philosophy and the "breadbasket" of the Roman Empire to the dusty backwater it is today.

perpster | February 21, 2011 12:28 PM | Reply

"The group calls itself the "Islamic Emirate of Barqa" after the ancient name of a region of northwest Libya, and the official said its leadership is made up of former al-Qaeda fighters previously released from jail.

The official said the same group was responsible for the hanging of two policemen in Al-Baida on Friday that was reported in Oea newspaper...."

If only they had had art classes.

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