More than 1,000 inmates escape Libyan prison

        
Libyan security officials said more than 1,000 detainees have escaped from a prison near the eastern city of Benghazi in a mass jailbreak.    
            
A government security official in Benghazi, Mohammed Hejazi, said the jailbreak happened Saturday at Koyfiya prison, as protesters stormed the offices of Islamist-allied parties in Libya's main cities.                 

It wasn't immediately clear if the jailbreak was part of the protests or if inmates received outside help.                 

A security official from the prison confirmed the jailbreak happened. He said most of the inmates were being held on serious charges. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak with journalists.          

Separately, Libya's Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said he would reshuffle his cabinet after protesters stormed the offices of the Muslim Brotherhood and a liberal political party to denounce the killing of a prominent critic of the Brotherhood.                         

"We are about to make a cabinet reshuffle and decrease the number of ministries to ensure a better performance to face the urgent situation," Zeidan told a news conference.                        
Hundreds of Libyans took to the streets overnight to denounce the killing of political activist Abdelsalam al-Mosmary in Benghazi on Friday. The demonstrations later turned violent.                     
Mosmary was an outspoken opponent of the Brotherhood, whose Islamist political wing is the second biggest party in the national congress, and regularly appeared on television criticizing the presence of armed militias on Libya's streets. Two military officials were also killed in Benghazi on Friday.                         

Libya's weak central government is struggling to assert its authority over armed groups that helped topple veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, part of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings that also felled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen.                         

The Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Justice and Construction Party (JCP) has the second-biggest number of seats in Libya's legislature, and there has been growing opposition to its increasing influence.                               


REUTERS/AP