March 2016: Canadian reported killed fighting w/AQ in Libya

[The Bread Guy]

This from the National Post ...

The son of a former Ottawa cleric who encouraged Libyans to “take part in jihad” was reportedly killed in an armed clash with government forces in Benghazi over the weekend.

The death of Owais Egwilla, described as a former Ottawa university student, was announced on social media accounts affiliated with Libyan fighters, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

The posts said he had died in a battle against the “infidel forces” of Libyan Gen. Khalida Haftar. The Libya Observer reported Egwilla was a member of a militia called the Omar Al-Mukhtar Brigade.

“It is one of the extremist groups,” Ambassador Fathi Baja, Libya’s envoy to Canada, said Sunday. He said the youth’s father was Abdu Albasset Egwilla, a Libyan-Canadian religious cleric ...

... and this from SITE Intelligence Gp (via Twitter):  "Breaking: #Canadian Owais Egwillah, son of ex-#Ottawa imam Abdul Basset Egwillah, announced killed in #Libya ... #Canadian, Owais Egwilla was said to be killed during clashes yesterday on the western side of #Benghazi #Libya ... #Canadian Owais Egwilla was said to be w/Omar Mukhtar brigade, linked to the pro-AQ #Ansaralshariain #Libya according to posts/eulogies"
Live by the sword ...

 

[jollyjacktar]

I heard the good news on the radio coming into work today.  Nice way to start the week.

 

[PuckChaser]

Trudeau likely planning state funeral, terrorists are people too.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

 

[OldSolduer]

Serves him fking right. The piece of trash and his family take advantage of our kindness then turn and bites the West.
I feel no sympathy for these scumbags.

 

[BurnDoctor]

To echo what was said above, I love starting the week with a feel-good news story.

Too bad Trudeau and McCallum think he still deserves citizenship.  "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian", after all.

Bullfeathers.

 

[Rifleman62]

I wonder how many nine year old girls he raped and sold as sex slaves.

Canadian values?

If the Liberals had any sense/guts they would strip this guy's citizenship away posthumously.

 

[OldSolduer]

To echo what was said above, I love starting the week with a feel-good news story.

Too bad Trudeau and McCallum think he still deserves citizenship.  "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian", after all.

Bullfeathers.

I fully agree. I think the PM et al should have to break the news to a mother who's lost her son to these scum. Maybe that would change their minds.

 

[George Wallace]

I heard one report that his father had escorted him over to Libya.  If true, what became of him is another question.

 

[The Bread Guy]

I heard one report that his father had escorted him over to Libya.  If true, what became of him is another question.

If the following is to be believed, Pere has (had?) an interesting government job with one of the Libyan governments* and on TV ...

ZERO idea of the reliability/accuracy, but some (what looks like?) Libyan media have some interesting details worth at least considering in the info triangulation exercise - shared under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act (different names guide:  Awais Aguila = dead son/university student, Abdulbaset Aguela = father/former Ottawa imam/Tripoli gov't guy/alleged bad guy recruiter)....

The death of the son of one of directors in the Tripoli office of the Ministry of Awqaf (religious endowments) while fighting with Islamist militants in Benghazi has focussed attention on the father and extremism within the ministry.

Awais Aguila, who had Canadian as well as Libyan nationality and is said to have been a student at Ottawa university, died the day before yesterday after being wounded two days earlier fighting with the Omar Mukhtar Brigade in Garyounis against the Libyan National Army. He had been treated in a field hospital but succumbed to his wounds before he could be transferred to Misrata and then to Tripoli.

The Omar Mukhtar brigade, led by Islamist Ziyad Belam, is part of the Benghazi Revolutionaries’ Shoura Council over which Ansar Al-Sharia has financial and military control.

Public prayers were said for Awais Aguila in Tripoli’s Martyrs’ Square today.

Aguila’s father is Abdulbaset Aguela, a friend of Tripoli’s Grand Mufti, Sadek Al-Ghariani. A TV phone-in presenter on Ghariani’s Tanasah TV station, Aguela is also a top official in the Tripoli office of the Awqaf ministry, in charge of the administration of mosques in the capital, including the appointment of imams.

A known hardliner, his son’s death in Benghazi has reignited concern about extremist influence in the ministry.

In November, the head of the Tripoli office, Mohamed Atkitek, was arrested by Rada forces, suspected of helping send young men to fight with the Islamic State (IS) in Sirte. At the time, Ghariani used his influence to secure Atkitek’s freedom, accusing Rada of being “bandits”.

It is now alleged that Aguela Snr., who also has Canadian nationality and was formerly an imam in in Ottawa, has similarly been helping recruit fighters to join the militants in Benghazi.  Libyan ambassador to Canada Fathi Baja has said that he “pushed” his son into going and fighting in Benghazi and accused him of encouraging other young Libyans to become jihadis in Libya and abroad.

Meanwhile, there are today claims that a senior IS official in Sirte, nicknamed Abu Jara Al-Sirawi, attended the prayers in Martyrs’ Square. It has led to questions being asked about how he managed to get to the capital and why the authorities did not stop him.

An IS dude allegedly dropping by to pay his respects to a fallen AQ'ite?  Interesting times ...

* - For more on the battlin' governments of Libya, Al Jazeera English has a decent summary here.

 

[The Bread Guy]

A couple of updates:

• CSIS boss on latest reports:  "... "I'm not saying that I doubt this person is dead," he told reporters following the hearing. "What I've said and we've seen this a number of times, people are reported as being killed, just to resurface two, three, four weeks, a month later on Twitter or Facebook." ...
• "Former Ottawa man killed in Libya was not an extremist, spokesman says: ‘He was absolutely normal’":  "A former Ottawa resident killed in clashes in Benghazi was inside a building hit by a crude barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to a Libyan general, a spokesman for a Canadian-Libyan group said Monday.  “Apparently a bomb fell on that building and the building collapsed on them,” said Khaled Misellati, a Canadian Libyan Community Association trustee who knew youth, whom he said was 20 or 21. “He wasn’t fighting.” ... Misellati said Egwilla was not an extremist. “He was absolutely normal. He was in sports and mingling with his friends,” he said. The youth was a Canadian citizen, he said. “He was part of the community here. He was a nice guy.” ..."

 

[The Bread Guy]

... "Former Ottawa man killed in Libya was not an extremist, spokesman says: ‘He was absolutely normal’":  "A former Ottawa resident killed in clashes in Benghazi was inside a building hit by a crude barrel bomb dropped by forces loyal to a Libyan general, a spokesman for a Canadian-Libyan group said Monday.  “Apparently a bomb fell on that building and the building collapsed on them,” said Khaled Misellati, a Canadian Libyan Community Association trustee who knew youth, whom he said was 20 or 21. “He wasn’t fighting.” ... "

Note to Khaled:  uh, yeah, he was, at least according to his father:

A former Ottawa imam has issued a fiery call to arms to Libyans after his son, raised in the Canadian capital, was killed in clashes in Benghazi, where Islamist militias are battling elements of the Libyan military ... In a televised speech to a gathering in Tripoli, he acknowledged the death of his son, Owais Egwilla, and thanked those who “were with him in the battlefield,” according to a translation by the SITE Intelligence Group ... A notice posted on a Facebook page linked to the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries said Egwilla and another man had died “after a battle they waged against a group from the disbelieving forces,” according to SITE ...

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Why are we even talking about this gluebag and giving him more space in internet history. These types don't deserve writeups and debate. Out of sight out of mind.