News / North Africa

Daesh terrorists claim deadly bomb attack near Libya’s Sirte

Friday, 08 January 2016 11:28 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 08 January 2016 11:29 AM ]

Libyans gather at the site of a deadly truck bombing on a police school in Libya’s coastal city of Zliten on January 7, 2015. ©AFP

Daesh Takfiri terrorists have claimed responsibility for a bombing attack at a security checkpoint, which claimed the lives of six people, including an infant, in a northern Libyan town.

On Friday, Libya’s Daesh branch, which calls itself IS Barqa Province, released a statement claiming the attack which took place in the town of Ra’s Lanouf, located east of Sirte.

According to the statement, the bombing was carried out by a militant using an explosive-packed car on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, some 65 people were also killed and 130 others wounded in another bombing attack on Thursday at a police training center in the northwestern city of Zilten.

No group or individual has yet claimed responsibility for the first incident.

Over the past months, Daesh, which is mainly active in Iraq and Syria, has extended its acts of terror to Libya, among a number of other countries, and tried to strengthen its foothold in the North African country.

The extremist terrorists have exploited the chaos in Libya and seized parts of Sirte, a city on the country’s Mediterranean coast, since February 2015.

Following the Thursday blasts, Martin Kobler, the United Nations special representative for Libya and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), condemned the acts of violence, urging all conflicting sides in the North African nation to work to settle differences and form a unity government.

United Nations special envoy to Libya Martin Kobler

“I am shocked at this reprehensible terrorist attack,” the top UN officials said, adding that “every wasted day in failure to implement the Libyan Political Agreement is a day of gain for Daesh.”

He was referring to the UN-backed agreement signed between rival political groups in Libya last month on the formation of a unity government. However, the deal is yet to be implemented.

Libya has been dealing with instability since 2011, when the country’s then dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, was overthrown and armed groups as well as regional factions engaged in a conflict.

The capital is controlled by a political faction, called Libya Dawn, allied with powerful armed forces based in the city of Misrata. The faction has reinstated the old parliament, known as the General National Congress (GNC), in the capital.

The internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni is based in the eastern city of Bayda, with its elected House of Representatives in Tobruk.

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