By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 12 March 2015:
A bomb exploded early this morning outside the police station in the central Tripoli district . . .[restrict]of Zawiat Al-Dahmani. There were no injuries although one unconfirmed report stated that one person was slightly hurt. However, the blast left a gaping hole in the station’s outside wall and there was damage to nearby premises. One police vehicle was destroyed and others vehicles in the street damaged.
According to reports the blast was caused by a bomb placed outside the building. By mid afternoon, however, much of the damage had been repaired.
The timing of the attack is similar to attacks on police stations in Benghazi last year – a bomb left in a bag outside the building and a blast occurring early in the morning before anyone was there. Today’s blast occurred at around 6.45 am. No police were thought to be at the station at the time.
The “Islamic State in Tripoli” has claimed responsibility for the attack and issued what appears to be credible ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures of the attack showing the wall initially intact and then a blast.
This is the latest in a series of attacks in the capital involving forces claiming to be linked to the Islamic State (IS). Previously, despite the evidence, the Libya Dawn authorities had consistently claimed that there were no IS forces in Tripoli, attributing attacks either to Qaddafi supporters or Khalifa Hafter. [/restrict]
