A powerful car bomb attack targeted a military academy in Libya’s eastern of city of Benghazi yesterday, killing at least eight people and wounding more than a dozen, hospital and security officials said.
Instability in the eastern city is part of the struggle a weak central government faces in controlling armed groups, militias and brigades of former rebels who once battled Muammar Gaddafi and now refuse to disarm.
A first bomb exploded at the front gate of the academy as soldiers were leaving a graduation ceremony, security officials said. Several cars parked outside exploded. One or two other bombs exploded around the same time, wounding at least 13, a security official said.
In a separate explosion hours later in Benghazi, one person was killed when another car bomb went off near the state oil firm Brega Petroleum Marketing Co, which sells fuel products inside Libya, a security source said.
No group claimed responsibility for the bombings in Benghazi, where Libyan armed forces have been battling militants from hardline Islamist groups such as Ansar al Sharia, listed as a foreign terrorist organisation by Washington.
The government regards the bombing as terrorist act
The government called the academy bombing a “terrorist act” and declared three days of mourning.
Most countries have closed their consulates in Benghazi and some foreign airlines have stopped flying there since the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed in an Islamist militant attack in September 2012.