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Dublin: 11 °C Wednesday 19 June, 2013

11-year-old killed by celebratory gunfire in Tripoli

Dozens of people have been injured as rebel fighters shoot their guns into the air in Tripoli…

Libyan rebels fire into the air in the Bab El Bahrah district in Tripoli
Libyan rebels fire into the air in the Bab El Bahrah district in Tripoli
Image: AP Photo/Francois Mori

AN ELEVEN-YEAR-OLD boy has been killed by celebratory gunfire in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

Bouts of sporadic gunfire have become very common on the streets of the city as rebel groups celebrate their overpowering of Gaddafi and his forces in Tripoli.

Mohamed Matoub died when he was struck by a bullet which had been fired into the air by a rebel fighter. The Telegraph reports that more than a dozen people have been injured by falling bullets in the past few days.

Tripoli residents have been celebrating their first Eid since the fall of Gaddafi’s reign in the city. Eid marks the end of the month of Ramadam, and gunfire has been a large part of those celebrations. The Guardian reports that rebels “fired anti-aircraft guns out over the Meditteranean and the air crackled with Kalashnikov fire”.

For more information read Ruth Sherlock’s story in The Telegraph

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Comments (9 Comments)

  • Dopes

    Reply
  • John 01/09/11 #

    This is not the first you’ll find.

    Reply
  • What goes up must come…. Idiots.. But delighted the mass murderer is over thrown.. Heart goes out to the little fellas family.

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  • Was sure to happen sooner or later. When the hostilities end, they are going to have a real problem with the amount of firearms and munitions in circulation.

    As for the US providing weapons – seems not to be the case (apart from the UN sanctioned aerial activity). Don’t forget the huge amount of trade that Ireland did with the Gadaffy regime. We were happy to feed and train the regime while they were shipping arms back to the Provos to blow us up!

    Reply
  • mart_n 01/09/11 #

    Was only a matter of time before this happened. How civilised of them, and how decent of the US to provide arms to such a disparate group of factional rebels with little regard for safety.

    Reply
    • Jeff 01/09/11 #

      So you would have prefer to see the Colonel win & wipe out the resistance in his usual bloodily style? because of Health & Safely concerns.

      Beside it was the Qator, Egypt & Italians that gave them the weapons, and well done to them

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    • mart_n 01/09/11 #

      The Colonel has already lost.. where’s the need to fire weapons indiscriminately? Do the nations that provided these weapons plan on taking them back? How’s that going to work.. People seem to think that there are only two sides in this conflict, there aren’t, and having an armed population will lead to all sorts of problems when trying to rebuild the nation and install a new government. Progress at any cost though, isn’t it..

      Reply
    • It’s a cultural thing across the Middle East and until their respective Governments start educating the locals on the physics of these actions this will continue to happen.

      Reply
  • keyese 02/09/11 #

    all weapons were russian , not americian / kk are russian

    Reply

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