A top US official said on Sunday that a team of US and Libyan bomb-disposal specialists has secured about 5,000 surface-to-air missiles stockpiled during the regime of Moamer Qadhafi.
"We have identified, disbanded and secured more than 5,000 MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defence Systems), while thousands more have been destroyed during Nato bombing," Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs told a group of reporters.
Dozens of these missiles were detonated along the shore facing Sidi Bin Nur village, east of Tripoli, as Shapiro, one a one-day visit to Libya, witnessed the event. A joint US and Libyan team of bomb-disposal experts has been working for several months now to find these missing missiles which are seen as potential threat to civil aviation.
Qadhafi had a stockpile of 20,000 shoulder-fired missiles before the revolt against him broke out in February.
"We are working side by side with the TNC to reduce the threat of these loose weapons," Shapiro said after talks in Tripoli with officials from the ruling National Transitional Council, the interior and defence ministries.