Four human smugglers were killed in an exchange of fire with Libyan navy off the western shores on Thursday, a navy official has declared. Spokesman of the Libyan Navy, Brigadier-General Ayoub Qasim, said Coast Guard patrol boats clashed with heavily armed gunmen escorting an illegal immigrants’ boat after they refused to obey orders to stop. “The gunmen opened heavy fire at Coast Guard patrols and we had to respond to their fire,” he said, adding that two smugglers were arrested and another is still missing. Qasim also declared that a foreign journalist accompanying Coast Guard patrols was injured in the exchange of fire. Human smuggling has become a flourishing business in Libya due to the political and security chaos ongoing in the countryLast month, 15 illegal immigrants were brutally killed by human smugglers after disagreement over payment.

Source: Libya Observer April 06, 2017 18:56 UTC