Suspected IS suicide bombers strike Libya oil company

Libya's vital oil sector has been repeatedly disrupted by violence since a 2011 NATO-backed rebellion that toppled longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

MENA

3 min read

The New Arab & agencies

10 September, 2018

Gunmen stormed the headquarters of Libya's National Oil Company in Tripoli. [Getty]

Suicide bombers suspected of being from the Islamic State group stormed the headquarters of Libya's National Oil Company on Monday and killed at least two people, officials said.

An oil company official, who asked not to be named, said masked gunmen had exchanged fire with guards and attacked the NOC's headquarters in the capital Tripoli.

"I jumped out of the window with other colleagues, and then we heard an explosion," the official said.

The UN denounced what it called a "terrorist" attack, the latest to target Libya's vital oil sector amid the chaos that has gripped the North African country since the 2011 uprising that toppled late dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Witnesses also spoke of hearing a blast and gunfire before security forces rapidly surrounded the headquarters and firefighters and rescuers arrived on the scene.

Two people were killed and ten wounded in the attack, said the health ministry.

Security forces evacuated the NOC's chairman Mustafa Sanallah and other staff from the building, whose upper windows were damaged from the reported explosions.

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Sanallah told the Libya 218 News channel that staff members had been killed and others wounded, some of whom were in a "serious condition".

Ahmed Ben Salem, a spokesman for the Deterrence Forces - a militia that operates as Tripoli's police force - said the remains of two "suicide bombers" were found inside the building.

They were discovered on the second and third floors, he said, while identifying the two people killed in the assault as security guards.

Pictures of the purported remains were posted on the force's Facebook page.

Tripoli security chief Salah al-Semoui blamed the Islamic State group for the attack, although there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) denounced a "cowardly terrorist attack", calling it in a statement a "blow against Libyans everywhere".

UNSMIL urged Libyans "to desist from futile side conflicts and come together, in partnership with the international community, to eradicate the scourge of terrorism across the country".

Fighting in and around Tripoli since 27 August has killed at least 50 people and wounded 138 others, most of them civilians, according to the Libyan health ministry.

The violence has also forced thousands of people to escape to nearby towns or seek shelter in other districts of the capital, while many more have remained trapped inside their homes.

Libya's vital oil sector has been repeatedly disrupted by violence since a 2011 NATO-backed rebellion that toppled longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Petrochemical exports had accounted for the vast majority of state revenues under Gaddafi's rule, with production at 1.6 million barrels per day.

Since his ouster, output fell to about 20 percent of that level, before recovering to more than one million barrels per day by the end of 2017.

In May, the Islamic State group claimed a deadly attack on the national election commission offices in Tripoli.

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