Tripoli, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Gunmen in southern Libya threatened to destroy water and gas pipelines if a detainee is not released from the capital Tripoli.
A video footage showed an armed group led by Khalifa Ehneish standing inside the main control room of the southern water pipeline system, demanding Tripoli's Special Deterrence Force to release of his brother, Al-Mabruk Ehneish.
The group granted the Special Deterrence Force 72 hours to release Al-Mabruk Ehneish, or else they will burn the system in the south.
The water pipeline system, know as the man-made river, which was made during the Gaddafi rule in 1984, supplies western and eastern Libya with fresh water from the south.
The Special Deterrent Force of the Interior Ministry on Sunday said they stopped a plan to take control of the capital Tripoli by armed groups of the supporters of the former regime and mercenaries from Sudan's Justice and Equality Movement.
Al-Mabruk Ehneish is accused of commanding an armed group of 120 members, and leading "a resistance movement called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya led by some supporters of the former regime," with the aim of "destabilizing the security of the country and changing the system of governance," according to the Special Deterrent Force.
