National post Toronto

The death of Owais Egwilla, left, was announced on social media accounts affiliated with Libyan fighters, according to the SITE Intelligence Group. The youth’s father was Abdu Albasset Egwilla, right, a Libyan-Canadian religious cleric.

TORONTO — The son of a former Ottawa cleric who encouraged Libyans to “take part in jihad” was reportedly killed in an armed clash with government forces in Benghazi over the weekend.

The death of Owais Egwilla, described as a former Ottawa university student, was announced on social media accounts affiliated with Libyan fighters, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

The posts said he had died in a battle against the “infidel forces” of Libyan Gen. Khalida Haftar. The Libya Observer reported Egwilla was a member of a militia called the Omar Al-Mukhtar Brigade.

“It is one of the extremist groups,” Ambassador Fathi Baja, Libya’s envoy to Canada, said Sunday. He said the youth’s father was Abdu Albasset Egwilla, a Libyan-Canadian religious cleric.

His father took him to Libya. In fact his father pushed him,” the diplomat said in an interview. He said the cleric had used his pulpit to encourage youths to take up arms in Libya and elsewhere.

His uncle Abdul Rahman Egwilla remembered the youth in a Facebook post,
SITE said. “Owais, my nephew, should I cry for you and eulogize you? No,
by Allah. With your death and martyrdom you raised the head of our entire
family.”

The Al-Mukhtar brigade is affiliated with Ansar Al-Sharia, which is fighting to impose Islamic law in Libya. Al-Mukhtar is led by a former Libyan Islamic Fighting Group member linked to Osama bin Laden.

Pictures on the young man’s Facebook page showed him posing with the cleric and in settings that could be Canadian. A photo apparently taken after his death was circulated online.

“We are aware of reports that a Canadian citizen has passed away in Libya,” said Diana Khaddaj, a Global Affairs Canada spokeswoman. She provided no details but said stopping so-called foreign fighters was a government priority.