Unidentified aircraft bombed Islamist targets in Libya

(Image credit: CC by: BRQ Network)

last updated 8 January 2015

Early Monday, warplanes intervened in Libya's escalating fight for control of the capital, Tripoli, bombing several targets controlled by the Islamist faction, including a small arms storehouse. Six people were killed. And nobody is credibly taking credit for the attack.

"The airstrikes were beyond the capacity of the limited Libyan Air Force, and Libyan authorities said the planes had come from a foreign state," The New York Times reports. "The United States, France, Italy, and Egypt all denied responsibility."

Members of a militia led by renegade Gen. Khalifa Hifter, who is fighting Islamist militias in Eastern Libya, took responsibility for the raids, but Hifter's forces almost certainly don't have fighter jets that can carry out targeted airstrikes in the predawn dark. Neither does Libya's military. Several militias, roughly divided into backers and opponents of political Islam, have been fighting for control of Tripoli since June. All the targets on Monday were controlled by the Islamist camp.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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