Bombs explode at Iran envoy’s residence in Libya

TWO bombs exploded at the gate of the Iranian ambassador’s residence in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, although nobody was hurt in the blast, Libyan security officials said.

  “Two devices were laid, one exploded first and then the other. The point of the second bomb was to create confusion,” Colonel Jumaa al-Mashri from the National Security Agency told Tripoli-based al-Nabaa television yesterday.

  The Sunni armed group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said it carried out the attack.

  The Associated Press news agency reported that the Iranian ambassador was not in the residence during the attack.

  Iran’s official IRNA news agency also confirmed the blasts Sunday, adding that Iran had previously suspended operations at its embassy.

  The residence lies in a central district of Tripoli, where several diplomatic missions are located.

  Photos posted online by a reporter of an Iranian news agency showed destroyed concrete and steel scattered outside the building. 

  Witnesses told AFP news agency that windows at the nearby Ukrainian embassy were shattered by the impact of the blasts.

  The attack yesterday was the latest to target a diplomatic mission in Tripoli, where most embassies have been shut since summer 2014 as rival armed militias battled for control of the city.