US-sanctioned militia leader killed in Libya

Libyans look at a poster depicting members of a family who commanded a militia that traumatised Tarhuna town with the Arabic phrase “al-Kani, Tarhuna’s criminals”, during a funeral procession for 12 bodies that were identified from mass graves found in Tarhuna town, 80Km southeast of the capital, on 26 March 2021. [MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP via Getty Images]

Libyan militia leader, Al-Kani, accused of major human rights violations and sanctioned by the United States, was shot dead in Libya’s eastern Benghazi province yesterday, AP reported officials saying.

According to AP, the officials said Al-Kani was killed along with one of his associates during an exchange of gunfire.

The Libyan Al-Mashhad news website quoted local sources as saying that Al-Kani was “killed in a farm where he resides in Benghazi”.

Last November, the US unilaterally sanctioned the Kaniyat militia, which Al-Kani heads, after Russia prevented a United Nations Security Council committee from imposing sanctions.

In May, Britain also imposed sanctions on Kaniyat for atrocities it committed in Libya.

Al-Kani is believed to be responsible for the deaths of people found in mass graves last year in the western town of Tarhuna, AP reports.

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