Tropoli (ANTARA News/AFP) - Libyan authorities have arrested dozens of members of a "network" of Arab nationals allegedly seeking to destabilise the country, the official Jana news agency reported Saturday.

Those detained in several Libyan cities were members of a "foreign network (and were) trained to damage Libya`s stability, the safety of its citizens and national unity."

Sources close to the investigation, quoted by the agency, said the group included Tunisian, Egyptian, Sudanese, Palestinian, Syrian and Turkish citizens.

Those arrested were "charged with inciting acts of looting and sabotage, such as burning hospitals, banks, courts, prisons, police stations and offices of the military police, as well as public buildings and private properties, according to plans drawn up earlier," Jana said.

Noting that "certain Libyan cities have been the scene of acts of sabotage and destruction since Tuesday," Jana said the suspects sought to "take arms from police stations and the military police and use them."

"Sources close to the investigation have not ruled out Israel being behind the network," the news agency added, without providing details.

On the fifth day of an unprecedented challenge to his four-decade regime, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has still made no public comment, although he reportedly appeared at a mass rally of supporters in the capital on Thursday.

Human Rights Watch said security forces have killed more than 80 anti-regime protesters so far in eastern Libya.(*)

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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