BENGHAZI: A suicide bomber yesterday blew up a car outside the headquarters of Libya’s internationally recognised parliament, wounding three lawmakers, a legislator said.
The attack came as a Libyan jet shot down a militia helicopter after Islamist-led fighters launched air strikes on a key oil terminal in the east of the country.
The car bomb struck near the back gate of Dar Al Salam Hotel in the eastern city of Tobruk, where the parliament that was elected in June took refuge after Islamist-led militias seized control of Tripoli in August.
Farj Buhashem, a spokesman for the legislature, said parliament was meeting on the ground floor when the blast went off.
“There was broken glass and some pedestrians were injured,” he said.
Lawmaker Tareq Jarushi, speaking said by telephone from Tobruk, said that the blast was caused by a suicide bomber who rammed his car into the back gate of the hotel. “Witnesses saw a car painted in military colours ramming the back gate and then explode,” said Jarushi.
Jarushi, who is the son of air force chief Brigadier General Saqr Jarushi, said “body parts” had been found at the scene of the bombing, “indicating that this was a suicide attack.
Three lawmakers who were outside the building at the time were slightly wounded by shattered glass, he said.
The attack comes as the UN mission to Libya, UNSMIL, plans a new round of peace talks between warring factions aimed at ending months of violence and political deadlock in the North African nation.
More than three years after dictator Muammar Gaddafi was toppled and killed in a Nato-backed revolt, the country is awash with weapons and powerful militias, and has rival governments and parliaments.
The UN-brokered talks are set to take place on January 5, diplomats at the UN Security Council said last week.
But Libya’s internationally recognised parliament voted Monday not to attend the negotiations if the rival legislature based in Tripoli is party to the talks, according to lawmaker Abdulsalam Nassiyeh.
The suicide bombing came as militia aircraft, including a chopper, attacked pro-government forces in the so-called “oil crescent” eastern region around Al Sidra oil terminal, said military spokesman Ali Al Hassi.
“The air force shot down the helicopter as it prepared to land at a military base near Sirte airport, after it had taken part with other aircraft in the air raids,” Hassi said.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Fighters from the Islamist-led Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn) coalition of militias, which controls much of Tripoli, as well as second and third cities Benghazi and Misrata, have been trying to seize Al-Sidra and nearby Ras Lanuf terminals.
AFP
