Headlines
Eight killed, hostages taken in terrorist attack on Libya hotel
Tripoli, Jan 27 (IANS) Several Islamic State (IS)
affiliates launched an attack on Libya's biggest hotel in the capital
Tripoli Tuesday, killing three hotel guards and five foreigners,
according to security sources.
Some witnesses said a bomb was
detonated at Corinthia Hotel's parking lot around 10 a.m., shaking the
whole central area of the city. Then two men firing guns dashed into the
hotel building. Nearby office buildings were evacuated after the
explosion.
A large number of security personnel were at the
scene. A security source told Xinhua news agency that three hotel guards
were killed and the gunmen took some "important figures" hostage inside
the hotel, making it a standoff.
Mahmoud Hamza, a commander from
the local security forces, told al-Nabaa TV that five foreigners were
killed during the attack. He added that the security forces were still
searching for the terrorists inside.
The hotel CCTV screen-shots
of the attackers were circulated among the security forces to help in
the search, a Xinhua photographer said.
The IS offshoot in Libya,
"Tripoli Province", claimed responsibility for the attack on its
official social media website, calling it the "Battle of Sheikh Abu Anas
al-Libi." It said the reason for the explosion is that the hotel
contained "non-Muslim diplomatic missions and security companies".
Al-Libi was an alleged Al-Qaida operative who was captured by US special forces in Libya, and died this month in a US hospital.
Corinthia,
one of the last operational hotels in Tripoli, once hosted many
government branches, foreign embassies and staff of media and foreign
enterprises.
Libya's former prime minister Ali Zeidan was abducted by gunmen from the hotel in 2013 and later released.
Tripoli
fell into the hands of the armed Islamist coalition Libya Dawn last
August, when the internationally recognised Libyan government retreated
to the eastern town of Tobruk.
The city has been plagued by bomb attacks, assassinations and kidnappings.
Several
embassies, including those of Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, have
been targeted by militants in similar bomb attacks.