Suspects detained for storming state oil firm

Three suspects have been detained for allegedly storming the Libyan state oil firm's headquarters in Tripoli, the country's Attorney-General said, a day after its rival government in the east threatened to declare force majeure on oil fields and ports, citing assaults on the firm. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) is based in Tripoli under the control of the internationally recognised government of national unity, reports TimesLIVE. The parallel government in Benghazi in the east is not internationally recognised, but most oilfields in the major oil producing country are under the control of eastern Libyan military leader Khalifa Haftar. The NOC has previously denied its corporation's headquarters were stormed, calling it ‘completely false’ and quoted its acting chief as calling it ‘nothing more than a limited personal dispute that occurred in the reception area’. But the eastern-based government has threatened to also temporarily relocate the NOC's headquarters to ‘safe cities’ such as Ras Lanuf and Brega, both of which it controls. ‘The public prosecution reviewed the evidence of the storming of the corporation's headquarters, inspected the scene, reviewed the video footage recorded at the time of the incident and heard the testimonies of those present,’ the Attorney-General said in a statement. The three suspects were handed over by the Defence Ministry, which was asked ‘to arrest the remaining contributors to the incident,’ the Attorney-General said.

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