Staff at the Italian embassy in Tripoli are all safe after a car bombing in the Libyan capital, Italy's foreign ministry has said.

It said the explosion was "in the vicinity of the Italian and Egyptian embassies" in Tripoli.

The ministry said last night that a vehicle "full of explosives" blew up earlier in the evening and "it seems" there were two victims, who presumably were the two people in the car.

Italy said that Libyan authorities have stepped up security near the Italian embassy, which was recently re-opened.

Rome has played a leading role in trying to encourage a unity government in Libya.
The North African country has been troubled by fighting and other violence involving rival militias after the demise of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.