Libya's interim interior minister resigned on Sunday, Aug 26 after members of the newly-elected parliament accused his forces of neglect when attackers bulldozed a Sufi shrine and mosque while police stood by a day earlier, according to The Associated Press.
Saturday's attack on the shrine was the latest in a string of assaults on Sufi places of worship, sparking fears of stewing sectarian troubles in a country that is still without a strong central government and largely without a functioning police or military.
The official Libyan news agency LANA reported that Fawzi Abdel-Al submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib.
The spokesman for Libya's security services, Abdel-Moneim al-Hurr, said Sunday that the interior minister's resignation had been accepted by both the prime minister and parliament.
Adding to the tension, a security official said that after lawmakers spoke out against the security forces' inaction, Tripoli's police and militias who work together as part of a security committee were ordered by their superiors to withdraw from the streets. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
LANA also reported that the elected national assembly, or parliament, called upon the security committee to ignore orders to stop work and to instead continue "serving the homeland."
Late Sunday, security spokesman al-Hurr said that 17 people had been arrested in connection with the desecration of the Sufi shrine. He also denied that security forces were ordered off the streets.
