One of Libya’s most wanted human traffickers was killed Sunday in the capital, Tripoli, Libyan officials said, fueling tension in the western part of the North African country.
Abdel-Rahman Milad, who commanded a coast guard unit in the western town of Zawiya and was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council, was shot dead by unknown assailants, the officials said.
The circumstances of his death were not immediately known, and no group claimed responsibility for his killing.
Libyan media outlets reported that he was shot while he was in his vehicle in the Sayyad area, in the western part of Tripoli. Footage circulated online showed a white Toyota Land Cruiser for Milad with bullet marks on its side.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity for their safety. There was no comment from the Tripoli-based government of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Moammar Dhawi, a militia leader in western Libya, mourned Milad’s death. In a statement, posted on Facebook, he called for an investigation to bring the perpetrators to account.
Libya has been plagued by corruption and turmoil since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The county has since then split between two administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.
Amid the chaos, the oil-rich country has emerged as a major conduit for people from Africa and the Middle East fleeing wars and poverty and hoping to reach Europe by crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
In June 2018, the Security Council imposed sanctions on Milad and five other leaders of criminal networks allegedly engaged in trafficking migrants and others from Libya. At the time, Milad was described as the head of a coast guard unit in Zawiya “that is consistently linked with violence against migrants and other human smugglers” from rival gangs.
U.N. experts monitoring sanctions claimed Milad and other Coast Guard members “are directly involved in the sinking of migrant boats using firearms.”
Milad had denied any links to human smuggling and said traffickers wear uniforms similar to those of his men. He was jailed for about six months between October 2020 and April 2021 on human trafficking and fuel smuggling charges.