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By Libya Herald staff.
Derna, 12 December 2013:
A bomb went off outside the offices of Justice and Construction Party (J&C) in Derna . . .[restrict]early this morning causing substantial damage to the building. A neighbouring building was also damaged as were a number of vehicles in the street. No one was injured, however, as there was no one in the building at the time of the blast, put at around 3am by local officials
Condemning the attack, Mohamed Sawan, head of the J&C, said in a statement later this morning that it would not stop the party continuing its work in the town.
The J&C headquarters were the only remaining party political offices in Derna. Those belonging to the National Forces Alliance had already been attacked.
Several other public buildings have also been bombed or torched in the past year – the court house, a radio station, the passport office, the power station, security headquarters. Yesterday a bomb exploded outside the local Misrata Martyrs School which was reportedly being used as a base for the local committee organising elections to the 60-member Constitutional Committee.
It is not clear who might have been responsible for today’s attack. Derna is seen as a stronghold of Islamists but they are bitterly divided. Furthermore, at the beginning of the month there was a week of protests against militias in the town and Ansar Al-Sharia in particular which saw it forced to abandon its headquarters and its radio station torched.
With input from Mohamed Elmasri
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