Libyan Muslim Leaders Denounce "Massacre"
The New York Times reports:
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libyan Muslim leaders told security forces to stop killing civilians, responding to a spiralling death toll from unrest which threatens veteran leaderMuammar Gaddafi's authority.
Libyan forces have shot dead dozens of anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi in the latest violence, according to an Al Jazeera television report.
The broadcast came after Human Rights Watch said 84 people had already been killed over three days in a fierce security crackdown mounted in response to protests that seek to emulate uprisings in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia.
Britain's Independent on Sunday said the body count in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, may be as high as 200.
"Dozens were killed ... We are in the midst of a massacre here," a witness told Reuters. The man said he helped take victims to hospital in Benghazi.
Benghazi and the surrounding area have been the focus of the unrest, but posts on social network sites referred to minor clashes in the capital Tripoli and of overnight gunfire in Nalut, to the west.
Al Jazeera on Sunday reported some security personnel captured by protesters appeared to be foreign mercenaries. Earlier, the channel said security forces fired at mourners at a funeral killing at least 15 people.
The bloody crackdown prompted about 50 Libyan Muslim religious leaders to issue an appeal, sent to Reuters, for the security forces, as Muslims, to stop the killing.
"This is an urgent appeal from religious scholars (faqihs and Sufi sheikhs), intellectuals, and clan elders from Tripoli, Bani Walid, Zintan, Jadu, Msalata, Misrata, Zawiah, and other towns and villages of the western area," said the appeal.
"We appeal to every Muslim, within the regime or assisting it in any way, to recognise that the killing of innocent human beings is forbidden by our Creator and by His beloved Prophet of Compassion (peace be upon him)... Do NOT kill your brothers and sisters. STOP the massacre NOW!"
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