The Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued on Wednesday a second warrant of arrest for the commander of Al-Saiqa Force’s frontlines Mahmoud Al-Werfalli for war crimes in the context of the non-international armed conflict in Libya.

Al-Werfalli escaped hours before the warrant was issued from his detention in Rajma in eastern Libya and he arrived later in Benghazi escorted by his loyalists, who are mostly from the special forces' personnel, amid gunshots in the air to celebrate his comeback.

The ICC said it found that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Al‑Werfalli directly committed murder as a war crime in the context of an eighth incident which took place on 24 January 2018, when he allegedly shot dead 10 persons in front of the Biyaat Al-Radwan Mosque in Benghazi, Libya.

“The Chamber found the case against Al-Werfalli to be admissible before the Court, due to the lack of investigative activities in Libya.” ICC said on its website.

The ICC added that the second warrant of arrest complements a first warrant of arrest issued by Pre‑Trial Chamber I on August 15 2017 for Al-Werfalli's “alleged responsibility for directly committing and ordering the commission of murder as a war crime in the context of seven incidents, involving 33 persons, which took place from on or before 3 June 2016 until on or about 17 July 2017 in Benghazi or surrounding areas, in Libya.”