No Injuries Reported in Grenade Attack Near Canadian Embassy In Libya

US consulate in Benghazi, Libya which was destroyed by people angry over the role of the United States inside the country. Demonstrations were held at the same time in Egypt, Sudan and Tunisia., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

TRIPOLI

No injuries reported in grenade attack near Canadian embassy in Libya

MARIE-LOUISE GUMUCHIAN
Published Tuesday, Jul. 23, 2013 10:02PM EDT

A rocket-propelled grenade struck a residential building near a tower housing the Canadian embassy and several other foreign embassies, and a major hotel in the Libyan capital on Tuesday, witnesses and a security source said.

There were no reported injuries in the incident in which a balcony of a residential block was charred and holed, a Reuters reporter on the scene said. A security source said the rocket was launched from car that burst into flames.

Rick Roth, a spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, said in an e-mail the embassy was closed at the time of the explosion and that all staff were accounted for and safe. “We are monitoring events closely and taking appropriate security measures,” he said.

There has been a spate of bombings in recent months in Libya – in April the French embassy in Tripoli was bombed, while in the volatile eastern city of Benghazi, four Americans – including the ambassador – were killed on Sept. 11 last year. (Canada closed its embassy in Cairo briefly earlier this month during street protests.)

The explosion occurred in the car park of a residential compound next to Tripoli Towers, a tall office building housing a few embassies, foreign airlines and other companies. It was also close to a large hotel used by foreign businessmen as well as Libyan government officials, the Corinthia.

The security source did not rule out that the rocket may have been targeted at the hotel and misfired, but this could not immediately be verified.

“I heard an explosion and looked outside and saw a car in flames,” a source working in Tripoli Towers told Reuters.

Police cordoned off the area around the burnt-out car.

The blast occurred in mid-afternoon, when many offices have already emptied during the fasting month of Ramadan.

Armed violence and lawlessness caused in part by militia groups who often do as they please has hobbled governance in wide areas of the oil-producing North African state following the 2011 war that ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

In Benghazi, two people were injured when a police station was bombed earlier on Tuesday.

A security official said an improvised explosive device was planted inside the gate of the police station and three people were later arrested. The police station has been targeted in similar attacks previously, the official said.

The east of Libya, and especially the city of Benghazi, the cradle of the anti-Gadhafi uprising, has became a particular focus of violence, mainly against security forces. Residents say some of the assaults may be revenge attacks by former prisoners.