By Ayman Amzein.
Benghazi. 17 August 2013:
A bomb exploded outside the Egyptian Consulate in Benghazi’s Fuwaihat district this afternoon causing damage to . . .[restrict]the front entrance of the building and slightly injuring a guard. A number of other neighbouring buildings in the residential district were also damaged as were four vehicles.
The bomb was thrown by an unknown assailant around 4.30am. According to Abdullah Zeidi, the spokesman for Benghazi Joint Security Room, an eyewitness told him it was thrown by a man whose face was covered.
“This incident may be caused by someone affected by what has happened in Egypt”, Zeidi added. It was not a massive explosion, he told the Libya Herald, and there were was no serious damage. Investigations were already underway, he said, adding that he could not give more information.
Yesterday and the day before, there were small demonstrations outside the consulate, one of the few remaining diplomatic missions in Benghazi, against Wednesday’s killings in Cairo by the police of hundreds of supporters of the ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. On both occasions about 50 people turned up.
This evening there was a large number of police cars around the home of the consul, Ashraf Sheha in the Aoswahat district of the city.
Attempts to contact the Egyptian Embassy in Tripoli were unsuccessful: phones were either switched off or not answering.
With input from Ahmed Elumami and Maha Ellawati [/restrict]
