400 prisoners escape from prison in Libya, emergency declared due to this escape of Gaddafi supporters

Tripoli: 406 prisoners succeeded in escaping from the prison in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Sunday. The prisoners who escaped from the prison taking advantage of the ongoing conflict in Libya, are all said to be supporters of former Dictator, Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyan government, alarmed by this, have declared an emergency in Libya and have ordered arrests of the escaped prisoners.

Over the last few days, a conflict has started between the military supporting the Libyan government and the rebels in and around Tripoli. The European countries have already expressed concerns about this conflict for power in Libya. The United Nations has accepted the Libyan government and has appealed to the rebels to resolve the issues through negotiations.

But despite this, the conflict between the Libyan military and the rebels continues. 39 people have died and more than 100 injured in this conflict. There were mortar attacks on the prison premises during the clashes between the military and the rebels. Taking advantage of these mortar attacks, the prisoners succeeded in opening the security gates of the prison, attacked the security personnel and escaped.

The number of prisoners for petty crimes is very minimal among the escaped prisoners. However, there is a large number of Gaddafi supporters and extremists in the escaped prisoners, informed the Libyan government. The Gaddafi supporters arrested during the Arab Spring in Libya, in the year 2011 had been detained in this prison.