By Noora Ibrahim.
Benghazi, 20 February 2015:
At least 35 people have been killed in three early morning car bombings at . . .[restrict]Guba, a town half-way along the B12 road between Beida and Derna.
The targets were the security headquarters, a crowded petrol station and a café. It is unclear if the last is near the home of House of Representatives president, Ageela Salah, who represents Guba in parliament.
Salah was not in the town. Speaking from Tobruk, he told the Libya Herald through a colleague that 20 people had been injured, some of them seriously and it was feared the death toll would rise. The wounded were first taken to Guba hospital.
However the most seriously injured are being flown in a government-arranged aircraft from Labraq to the UAE for specialist treatment. The border with Egypt, which is currently closed to Libyans, has been reopened at Salloum exclusively for victims of the Guba bombing.
Initial suspicions that the explosions were the work of suicide bombers do not seem to be correct. There have been reports that the three vehicles had been parked up and were empty before their deadly contents were detonated.
The petrol forecourt was crowded with motorists who had been queuing early for scare fuel.
Until now Guba has largely escaped violence. In September 2013 a car bomb wrecked the same national security headquarters, killing one Egyptian and injuring two more, who were living in a house next door.
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