Libya: three car bombs leave 40 dead and 70 injured
Three car bombs have ripped through the
eastern Libyan city of Qubbah, killing 40
people and wounding 70, according to
security officials and medics.
There has been no immediate claim of
responsibility for Friday’s explosions, but
parliamentary speaker Aguila Saleh said
the bombs appeared to have been in
retaliation for Egyptian air strikes on
nearby Derna, an Islamist militant hotspot.
On Monday, Egypt launched air strikes on
suspected Islamic State targets in Derna, a
day after the group released a video
showing the killing of Egyptian Coptic
Christian workers.
Three bombs exploded at a petrol station,
the local security headquarters and the
town council headquarters in Qubbah.
“We are announcing seven days of
mourning for the victims of Qubbah,”
Saleh told Al Arabiya television. “I think
this operation was revenge for what
happened in Derna.”
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A security official said the car bombs were
probably suicide attacks but no more
details were immediately available.
Libya is in chaos, with two governments
and parliaments vying for legitimacy and
territory, four years after Muammar
Gaddafi was toppled.
The internationally recognised prime
minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, is based in
Bayda, about 25 miles (40km) from
Qubbah. Saleh works in Tobruk, another
eastern town home to the House of
Representatives, the elected parliament.
The capital, Tripoli, is under the control of
a rival government and parliament, set up
after a faction called Libya Dawn seized
the city in the summer, forcing Thinni to
flee to the east
