Car bomb explodes at Tripoli hotel
Gunmen have stormed a luxury Libyan hotel popular with foreigners and have taken hostages after killing at least three guards, a security official has said.
Essam Al-Naas, a spokesman for a Tripoli security agency, said the stand-off is continuing at the Corinthia Hotel.
Hassan al-Abey, a corporate sales manager at the hotel, said five masked attackers wearing bulletproof vests stormed the hotel, shooting in the air.
He said the hotel was evacuated before the attackers clashed with the guards and blew up a car bomb in the parking area of the seaside hotel.
Mr Al-Abey was among those evacuated. He said the hotel had European and Turkish guests.
Tripoli has been hit with series of car bombs and shootings amid turmoil following the country’s 2011 civil war.
Since the ousting and killing of Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the country has been torn between competing militias and tribes vying for power.
Libya’s post-Gaddafi transition has collapsed, with two rival governments and parliaments – each backed by different militias – ruling in the country’s eastern and western regions.
