IS Revenge Blasts for Egypt Airstrikes Kill 40 in Libya
An image made available by propaganda Islamist media outlet Welayat Tarablos on February 18, 2015, allegedly shows members of the Islamic State (IS) militant group parading in a street in Libya’s coastal city of Sirte, which lies 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of the capital, Tripoli. (AFP)
BENGHAZI: Three car bombs ripped through the eastern Libyan city of Qubbah on Friday, killing 40 people and wounding 70.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the bombings.
A brief statement by an IS branch in Libya said two suicide bombers targeted the forces of General Khalifa Haftar “in revenge for the blood of our Muslim people in the city of Derna,” an apparent reference to airstrikes on the stronghold this week.
On Monday, Egyptian air force jets bombed suspected Islamic State targets in Derna in far eastern Libya, a day after the group released a video showing 21 captive Egyptian Coptic Christian workers being decapitated on a beach. Four years after rebels overthrew Muammar Qaddafi, the oil-producing North African state is in chaos, with two governments and parliaments allied to armed factions fighting for control, while radical groups exploit a power vacuum.
Three bombs exploded shortly before Friday prayers at a petrol station, the local security headquarters and the town council in Qubbah, which is Saleh’s hometown, security officials said. His house is close to the town council.
There have been suicide and car bomb attacks mainly in the east of Libya but the targets have tended to be police and army bases rather than civilians, with security officials blaming radical groups such as Ansar Al-Shariah.