Libyans storm militia compound

Associated Press

BENGHAZI, Libya

Hundreds of protesters stormed the compound of one of Libya’s strongest armed Islamic extremist groups Friday, evicting militiamen and setting fire to their building as the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans sparked a public backlash against armed groups that run rampant in the country and defy the country’s new, post- Moammar Gadhafi leadership.

Armed men at the administrative center for the Ansar al-Shariah militia, suspected to have led the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Benghazi consulate, first fired in the air to disperse the crowd but eventually withdrew from the site with their weapons and vehicles after it was surrounded by waves of protesters shouting “No to militias.”

“I don’t want to see armed men wearing Afghani-style clothes stopping me in the street to give me orders, I only want to see people in uniform,” said Omar Mohammed, a university student who took part in the takeover, which protesters said was done in support of the army and police.

No deaths were reported in the incident, which came after tens of thousands marched in Benghazi in a rally against armed militias.

A vehicle also was burned at the compound, which was taken over by Libyan security forces after its occupants fled.

For many Libyans, last week’s attack on the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi was the last straw with one of the biggest problems Libya has faced since Gadhafi’s ouster and death around a year ago — the multiple mini-armies that, with their arsenals of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, are stronger than the regular armed forces and police.