Car bombing in Libya's Benghazi kills two

At least two people were killed and seven wounded in a nighttime car bomb attack targeting a security chief in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.
1 min read
03 July, 2016
The Mediterranean city is plagued by frequent car bombings [Getty]
At least two people were killed and seven wounded in a nighttime car bomb attack targeting a security chief in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, a news agency and medical sources said Sunday.

LANA news agency, based in the country's east, said a vehicle exploded at around 2:00 am (0000 GMT) in a western suburb of Benghazi as a convoy of cars drove up carrying the chief of a forensic police unit.

The two dead were in the convoy, it said, while civilians were among the wounded.

A military source said the official, Hamada al-Ramli, escaped unhurt.

"We have received seven wounded in the explosion, some in serious condition," Khalil Goueder, a spokesman for the Benghazi Medical Centre, told AFP.

Benghazi, the country's second city, located 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from Tripoli, has for the past two years been the scene of clashes between Islamists and forces loyal to a government based in eastern Libya.

The Mediterranean city is plagued by frequent car bombings.

Extremists such as the Islamic State group took root in Libya in late 2014, taking advantage of the chaos and power struggles that followed the fall of Muammer Gaddafi's regime in a 2011 revolution.