By Mustafa Caglayan
NEW YORK
Libya's militant group Ansar al-Sharia was named by the United Nations as a terrorist organization Wednesday.
The 15-member Security Council voted anonymously to add the Benghazi-based faction to the terror list at the request of Britain, France and the United States.
Ansar al-Sharia was already on the U.S. terror list for its alleged role in a series of attacks against the U.S. Special Mission and Annex in the city in 2012.
According to the UN Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee, the group, led by Mohamed al-Zahawi, is associated with the al-Qaida network in north Africa and runs training camps for foreign terrorist fighters traveling to Syria, Iraq and Mali.
The French mission to the UN welcomed the vote.
"France supports placement of #AnsarAlSharia on UN terror blacklist, moderate forces in #Libya must present a common front against #terrorism," the mission tweeted.
Formed after the 2011 ouster of Libya's long ruling strongman Muammar Gaddafi, the Ansar al-Sharia militia calls for enforcing sharia, or Islamic law, in the country.
In the three years since Gaddafi's ouster and death, Tripoli has struggled to restore law and order amid the continued refusal of armed militias to give up their weapons. Militias helped overthrow the late leader.
In recent weeks, Benghazi has turned into a battlefield as army troops and armed local residents fight militia groups including, Ansar al-Sharia.
The weak central government, meanwhile, has remained largely absent from the scene.
www.aa.com.tr/en
