29-03-2024 12:56 PM Jerusalem Timing

Suicide Bombs Hit Libya Government’s Tobruk ex-Base

Suicide Bombs Hit Libya Government’s Tobruk ex-Base

Twin suicide bombings Wednesday hit the remote town where Libya’s internationally recognized government took refuge earlier this year, among a series of attacks in the restive east, security sources said.

LibyaTwin suicide bombings Wednesday hit the remote town where Libya's internationally recognized government took refuge earlier this year, among a series of attacks in the restive east, security sources said.

At least 20 people were wounded, four of them seriously, when the bombers blew up vehicles in the heart of Tobruk, an interior ministry official said.

The town, close to the Egyptian border and 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east of Tripoli, is still the base of the contested parliament elected in June but the government recently moved its headquarters to the nearby town of Shahat.

Both government and parliament took refuge in the remote east when Islamist-backed militias seized the capital in August.

The official said the bombs did not strike near the hotel which houses parliament. But a lawmaker said security measures had been stepped up for fear of further attacks.

The parliament was annulled by the supreme court last week but its anti-Islamist majority has refused to accept the judgment, saying it was handed down under duress.