Business

French embassy in Tripoli hit by car bomb

by fm

23rd April 2013

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France's embassy in Libya was hit by what appeared to be a car bomb on Tuesday, injuring two guards in the first such attack in the Libyan capital since the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.

"There was an attack on the embassy. We think it was a booby trapped car," a French official told Reuters. "There was a lot of damage and there are two guards wounded."

Diplomatic missions have been targeted in Libya, most notably an attack on the US mission in the eastern city of Benghazi last September that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

However Tuesday's attack is the first such serious assault on an embassy or foreign mission in the capital, Tripoli.

Libya's new rulers are still struggling to impose their authority on a country awash with weapons and a myriad of armed militias who often do as they please.