By Libya Herald staff.
Benghazi, 12 June 2014:
A suicide bomber is believed to have been responsible for a massive explosion late last . . .[restrict]night at the checkpoint in Bersis, some 50 kilometres east of Benghazi, in which four guards died and six others wounded. They were taken to hospital at nearby Tocra.
It was initially reported that a car drove up to the checkpoint at great speed and then exploded. However, according to the commander of the Saiqa Special Forces Investigations Unit, Fadh El-Hassi, a man in a vehicle was ordered out of his car at the checkpoint. There was shooting and the man then blew himself up.
The Bersis checkpoint is the main eastern approach gateway to the city, and firmly in the hands of forces loyal to General Khalifa Hafter.
One of Libya Herald’s Benghazi correspondents was at the checkpoint earlier in the evening and guards were on full alert, thoroughly checking everyone who passed, telling them to get out of their vehicles.
“I had come from Labraq airport,” writes Moutaz Ahmed. “They searched me, making me get out of my car. They even wanted to look at my phone to see my personal data.”
Last December an attack on the Bersis checkpoint killed 13 people. It was originally thought to be carried out by a suicide bomber – Libya’s first – but the truth of the matter has never been established. [/restrict]
