On 3 September, brief armed skirmishes sparked between local Tebus and the Libyan National Army (LNA) unit RIB-87 in Qatroun. The incident came after a 17-year-old Tebu boy, Hussein Youssif Seedi, was shot dead by an RIB-87 soldier at a fuel station. During the armed skirmishes, another young Tebu boy, Ahmed Ali Kadino, died as they attempted to break into the unit’s barrack.
The head of the Murzuq-based Council of Tebu Elders and Sheikhs in Libya, Allahouza Fowzi, and Qatroun-based Tebu Sultan, al-Zillawey Mena Saleh, intervened to prevent further violence.
The LNA did not comment on the incident, while the military police units from the Taminhent airbase deployed to Qatroun to investigate and restore order. However, the Internal Security Agency (ISA) branch in Qatroun sent a letter of condolences to the families.
The LNA has arrested citizens and conducted house raids in Qatroun in the days since, including relatives of the victims and others who are presumed to have participated in the brief RIB-87 barrack attack.
The South Liberation Operations Room (SLOR) condemned the incident, reiterating its commitment to fight against the LNA and urged citizens in Fezzan not to backdown on their rights and dignity. The SLOR also called upon international actors to abide by their moral responsibility and end their assistance to the LNA.
On 7 September, in an unidentified location, the SLOR commander Mohamed Warduko gave a 17-minute-long video statement. He deplored the killing of the Tebu boys in Qatroun. Warduko said that the incident signals the LNA’s total disregard for human lives and civilians in Fezzan and urged all citizens of Fezzan to enter into civil disobedience and to take up arms and defend themselves against ‘Saddam’s militias’.