African News Agency : Welcome

Benghazi, Libya, 4 Jan - (ANA) - Gunmen have kidnapped the acting head of the criminal investigation department in Libya's second city, Benghazi, officials have said. Abdelsalam al-Mahdawi was abducted at traffic lights on his way to work. It is not known who was behind the attack. Interior Minister Ashour Shwayel promised to find the officer and the perpetrators, news agency AFP reported. Libyan authorities have been struggling to provide security since the Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011. Last November, Benghazi's police chief was assassinated in a drive-by shooting. More than a dozen other security officers were killed last year in Benghazi, the city where the uprising began. AFP news agency quoted a security official as saying that the investigator "had many enemies". "He had files on everyone - Gaddafi loyalists, hard-line Islamists and common criminals," said the unnamed official. A group of police officers has staged a protest against the kidnapping. One held a banner asking: "Where are the men of Benghazi?" There has been a series of attacks against diplomatic missions and aid agencies in the city. They included a deadly assault on the US embassy in Benghazi in September last year. There have also been attacks against Sufi shrines and mosques. Witnesses say the attacks were carried out by militant Islamists.(ANA)