Maltese people who work in Libya were shocked by the twin car bombs that went off in Tripoli on Sunday, which betrayed the lack of security in the country despite the apparent calm seen in recent weeks.

You might not see it all the time, but it’s a known fact that several people own a Kalashnikov

The blasts, which coincided with the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, killed two people and have been blamed on loyalists of the late former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

And yesterday, a bomb exploded under the car of an Egyptian diplomat in Benghazi although there were no injuries this time.

“On the ground there has been an air of normality,” said Jean Claude Muscat, who works at Saint James Hospital in Tripoli and travels to Libya every couple of weeks.

“Doctors hold regular clinics, patients turn up on time and the staff are working routine morning, evening and night rosters.”

While business has not yet reached pre-2011 levels, the hospital has now reached between 75 and 80 per cent of the business it was seeing before the revolution, according to Mr Muscat.

But although the instability of a few months ago seems to be dissipating, as reflected by the levels of business, tensions still abound and the car bombs are a testimony to this.

“You do have to be aware of the reality around you. After all there was a revolution just a few months ago. People are armed and you must be sensitive to that.

“You might not see it all the time, but it’s a known fact that several people own a Kalashnikov,” he said, stressing the importance of avoiding unnecessary confrontation or exposure. Mr Muscat said the tensions are generally “internal” and not immediately clear to foreigners who may not be so informed.

“If you are a foreigner and not involved in the politics of it, you don’t really see it.”

Pharmaceutical seller and business lobbyist Mario Debono – who was very vocal and active throughout the crisis – compared the situation to Iraq, post-Saddam Hussein.

“After the euphoria of the revolution, tensions still exist with the Gaddafi people,” he said.

Libya was progressing more swiftly than other countries in the region, including Egypt, with a fully elected political class now running the show, prompting everyone to breathe a sigh of relief, not least Libyans.

“But the security situation, even for businesses, is still very, very dangerous... The car bombs were a manifestation of how unsafe it really is,” he said, stressing, however, that one should not give up hope.

“There will always be these Gaddafi people trying to cause trouble,” he said, but such acts of terrorism would work against them.

He said people were “outraged” that the bombs killed two innocent bystanders and that they were detonated on their sacred feast, which is the equivalent of Christmas for Christians.

“The car bombs were not aimed at the government but at innocent civilians who supported the revolution... to terrorise them.”

Meanwhile, he said, businesses were being terrorised in a different way, primarily by criminals roaming the streets with guns.

“The problem is that there are many criminals running free and they are terrorising business people: going up to them with guns and demanding money.”

He said even Maltese businesses had been targeted by such criminality.

Asked how he was dealing with this fear of being targeted, he said: “You just get used to it. You grin and bear it.”

Only 10 months have passed since the end of the Libyan revolution, which began in February 2011 and drew to a close in October with the death of Col Gaddafi.

Malta played a key role during the crisis, providing humanitarian assistance as well as holding on to two mirage jets which defected to the island instead of bombing civilians.

The two countries have enjoyed strong relations for decades, ironically, because of the closeness between Col. Gaddafi and the Dom Mintoff government in the 1970s and 1980s.