WORLD : Libya Detains Worker in Fire, Ambassador to Italy Announces
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ROME — Libya has detained several people suspected of setting a fire that severely damaged a chemical plant that U.S. officials say produced poison gas, Libya’s ambassador to Italy said today.
Ambassador Rahman Shalgam said the fire was apparently set by “a member of the technical staff at the factory,” the Italian news agency ANSA reported. The person responsible will be “executed in the same place where the fire took place,” he told a news conference for Italian journalists.
Shalgam did not say how many people were detained or give their nationalities.
The blaze broke out Wednesday in the plant at Rabta, about 60 miles southwest of Tripoli. Libya says the factory produced medicines, but the United States and West Germany have charged that it produced poison gas.
Libya has said it suspects that Israel, the United States and West Germany were behind the fire. All three countries have denied involvement.
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