Groups vying for power range from the politically savvy Muslim Brotherhood to the ultraconservative Salafis and former jihadists
Updated: 2:49 p.m. ET (AP) TRIPOLI, Libya – A spokesman for Libya’s National Transitional Council says gunmen have shot down a helicopter carrying voting materials, killing one election commission worker. The attack near the eastern city of Benghazi comes on the eve Libya’s first national election since the toppling and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi last year. NTC spokesman Saleh Darhoub says the helicopter came under attack while flying over Benina airport on Benghazi’s outskirts. He described the assailants as “enemies of the revolution” and said the attack won’t stop the country from holding elections. More in After the Arab Spring The news comes in as calls for a boycott and other unrest abound on the eve of Libya’s first vote since the overthrow of the country’s longtime dictator, Qaddafi. Fear of election violence is on the horizon, even as campaigning came to an end Friday for a contest seen as a milestone on the country’s rocky path toward democracy. The helicopter attack occurred a day after former rebel fighters from eastern Libya shut down three oil refineries to pressure the ruling council to cancel elections, citing an unfair distribution of seats among Libya’s regions. The Saturday election of a 200-member transitional parliament caps a messy nine-month transition after a ruinous 2011 civil war that ended in October with the death of Qaddafi, whose four-decade rule left the...
Read More
Comentarios recientes