Libya: Police officer guarding diplomats killed in Tripoli

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) – A police officer, belonging to the Department for the Protection of Diplomatic Missions, was shot dead on Monday by gunmen in Tripoli, illustrating the escalation of violence in the country.

"Unidentified gunmen have shot lieutenant Abdessalem Laouch, killing him immediately before running away,” said the Chief of the Relations Office at the Department of Protection of Diplomatic Missions, Abdelhakim al-Belazi, quoted by the Libyan news agency (LANA).

Sources say investigation has been opened into the murder.

The diplomatic police was set up recently by the Libyan authorities to protect embassies accredited in Libya, after repeated abductions and attacks perpetrated against foreign diplomats.

The Jordanian ambassador in Libya, Faouaz al-Aytane, was released in mid-May after 28 days of detention by his abductors who obtained in exchange the release of a Libyan detainee in Jordan who was involved in an attempted attack in Jordan in 2007.

On 17 April, a Tunisian diplomat, Laarousi Kontassi, was abducted, joining another staff member of the Tunisian embassy in Tripoli, Mohamed Belkchikh, abducted on 21 March.

Their abductors have demanded the release of Libyan Islamists jailed in Tunisia for terrorism in exchange of the two men.
-0- PANA BY/TBM/SOC/MSA/MA 26May2014