TRIPOLI, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Libyan militia Tripoli Rebels Battalion, the largest armed group allied with the UN-backed government in Tripoli, on Saturday announced willingness to take part in a military operation against criminal groups in southern and western Tripoli.
"The battalion is fully ready and willing to participate with the Western Military Region Command and the Zintan Military Council to clear Jafara and Aziziya areas of illegal criminal gangs," the battalion said in a statement.
The statement referred that the areas of Aziziya and Jafara in western Tripoli, also known as Warshaffana, are a stronghold for many criminals, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya, a military opposition wing loyal to the late Gaddafi.
"This operation is not against the people of Warshaffana. It aims to secure the area, arrest criminals, and help the official institutions of the state to return, particularly the military and police institutions," the statement stressed.
Although the Government of National Accord in Tripoli denied issuing any orders for military action, the city of Aziziya, some 30 km south of the capital Tripoli, has witnessed movements of forces allied with the government on Thursday to "eliminate crime in the area," according to the military council of the city of Zintan.
Warshaffana suffers unprecedented security chaos, including kidnapping, armed robbery and murder by criminal armed groups.
