The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned the double bombing in the Libyan city of Benghazi that left over 40 people dead, underscoring that there can be no military solution to the crisis plaguing the North African country.
According to reports, two car bombs exploded near a mosque in a residential area in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi Tuesday, leaving at least 40 dead and dozens injured.
An explosives-rigged vehicle blew up in front of a mosque in the central neighborhood of Al-Sleimani. A second car exploded 30 minutes later in the same area, causing more casualties among security services and civilians, including children.
“The perpetrators of the attack in Al-Salmani, and of any criminal acts carried out in retaliation, must be brought to justice,” added the statement
In the statement by his spokesperson, Guterres expressed concerns over reports of summary executions being carried out in Benghazi in retaliation for the attack.
‘‘The Secretary-General is also alarmed by reports of summary executions being carried out in Benghazi in retaliation for the attack,” the statement added, without naming the executioner.
Following the Tuesday double bombing attack, a series of photos surfaced, showing the execution of at least ten inmates in front of Bayaat al-Radwan mosque; a scene of the carnage.
The UN Special Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), which also expressed concerns over what it termed “brutal and outrageous summary executions” of prisoners in the city of Benghazi, at the scene of Tuesday double car bomb attacks, pointed the finger at Mahmoud al-Werfalli, a military commander, believed to be behind the execution.
“(The UN) demands the handing over of Mahmoud al-Werfalli immediately to (the ICC) as it documented at least 5 similar cases, in 2017 alone, carried out or ordered by al-Werfalli,” UNSMIL said on its Twitter account.
“Those responsible for committing or ordering summary executions are criminally liable under international law.”
The UN blames al-Werfalli because he resembles a gunman in military camouflage, pointing a gun at the head of the first of a row of blindfolded kneeling men in a first image.
Another photo shows all but three of the people slumped forward on the road as the gunman makes his way along the line, Middle East Eye (MEE) reports.
Werfalli whose unit is part of the Libyan National Army (LNA), headed by field Marshall Khalifa Haftar, is wanted by the ICC for similar crimes committed last year.
The LNA refused to hand him over, but vowed to suspend him and to open an investigation on the crimes imputed to him.
According to the Libya Herald, if Warfali is really the man conducting summary executions in the photos, this would mean that he had not been arrested by the LNA, as they had previously claimed.
International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued a warrant for the arrest of Warfali on 15 August 2017 to answer charges that he had been involved in seven incidents in which 33 bound prisoners were killed.
However, in September last year, the supposedly-detained Warfali was linked to five fresh murders, this time in Ajdabiya. There were reports that he had been seen in the town and was said to be visiting LNA units in the Oil Crescent, the Libya Herald reports.
