Shortly after midnight on 18 February, the bodies of at least ten murdered members of Abdul Ghani al-Kikli’s (aka Ghinaywa) Stability Support Agency (SSA) were found in a house in Abu Salim in southern Tripoli. Several of the men belonged to the al-Mashashiya tribe.
The SSA leadership has stated that the men were killed by ‘betrayal’ and extended its condolences to the families of the victims.
Minister of Interior Emad Trabelsi has set up an expert working group to investigate the incident. In the evening of 18 February, Tripoli’s Security Directorate announced that the Attorney General’s office had started its investigation.
On 19 February, UNSMIL condemned the killing of ‘at least 10 people’ in the Abu Salim area on 17 February and called for an independent investigation into the crime. It said that this incident underscores the concerns repeatedly expressed by Bathily about the serious risks posed by rivalries between security actors, which continue to threaten the fragile security in Tripoli. It stressed that it is now imperative to refrain from any actions that could lead to further escalation.
The leaders of al-Mashashiya in Mizdah (a town south of Zintan) and the Supreme Central Committee of the tribe have asked the PC, the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Attorney General to investigate the murder of their tribal brothers. They assign responsibility for the incident to Prime Minister Abdul Hameed Dabaiba.