The alleged ringleader behind the smuggling of thousands of people from Libya to Europe is believed to have been killed in a shootout.
Salah al-Maskhout was reportedly killed on Friday alongside eight other men in the Libyan capital. He was known to operate in Zuwara, a coastal city in north-west Libya which has become a hub for refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe.
According to local media reports, the smuggler was leaving relatives’ home with his security detail and others when armed men blocked the road. Maskhout and his men were killed in a shootout with men using handguns, the Libya Herald reported.
Maskhout was a former army officer under Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s despotic leader who was ousted from power and killed in 2011, Italian media said.
Italy’s defence ministry has denied allegations they were involved in the attack. A Nato official also said the military alliance was not behind the killings, telling the Guardian it had not carried out any military action in Libya since 2011.
Reports of the high-profile killing came just a day after the EU’s foreign policy chief, Italian Federica Mogherini, said operations against people smugglers will begin on 7 October. A British warship will be involved in the aggressive naval operation which is aimed at “boarding, seizing and diverting” boats carrying refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean, the UK’s defence ministry said earlier this month.
An estimated 129,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year, with many departing from Zuwara, according to UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency. People are often held by smugglers for months before departing, facing violence before and during the journey to Europe.
In a recent case a smugglers’ boat overcrowded with 400 people sank shortly after departing from Zuwara. The bodies of 183 people who drowned washed up on Libyan shores in the days following the shipwreck.
Smugglers operating out of Libya are known for their ruthlessness and were last year described as “merchants of death” by Italy’s interior minister, Angelino Alfano.
Salah al-Maskhout was reportedly killed on Friday alongside eight other men in the Libyan capital. He was known to operate in Zuwara, a coastal city in north-west Libya which has become a hub for refugees and migrants trying to reach Europe.
According to local media reports, the smuggler was leaving relatives’ home with his security detail and others when armed men blocked the road. Maskhout and his men were killed in a shootout with men using handguns, the Libya Herald reported.
Maskhout was a former army officer under Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s despotic leader who was ousted from power and killed in 2011, Italian media said.
Italy’s defence ministry has denied allegations they were involved in the attack. A Nato official also said the military alliance was not behind the killings, telling the Guardian it had not carried out any military action in Libya since 2011.
Reports of the high-profile killing came just a day after the EU’s foreign policy chief, Italian Federica Mogherini, said operations against people smugglers will begin on 7 October. A British warship will be involved in the aggressive naval operation which is aimed at “boarding, seizing and diverting” boats carrying refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean, the UK’s defence ministry said earlier this month.
An estimated 129,000 people have arrived in Italy by sea so far this year, with many departing from Zuwara, according to UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency. People are often held by smugglers for months before departing, facing violence before and during the journey to Europe.
In a recent case a smugglers’ boat overcrowded with 400 people sank shortly after departing from Zuwara. The bodies of 183 people who drowned washed up on Libyan shores in the days following the shipwreck.
Smugglers operating out of Libya are known for their ruthlessness and were last year described as “merchants of death” by Italy’s interior minister, Angelino Alfano.
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