UPDATE - Militants attack Libya’s foreign ministry in Tripoli

UPDATES DEATH TOLL

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI (AA) – At least two people were killed in a militant attack on the headquarters of Libya’s foreign ministry in central Tripoli on Tuesday, according to local sources.

Gunmen believed to belong to the Daesh terrorist group opened fire on the building before blowing up their explosives vests, a ministry source said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media.

Two ministry employees, including a Moroccan woman, were killed in the attack, according to a Libyan security official.

Foreign Minister Mohamed al-Taher was not inside the building during the attack as he was accompanying Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj during a visit to the western city of Zawiya, the ministry source said.

Billows of smoke were seen rising from the ministry building following the attack, for which no group has yet claimed responsibility.

Libyan authorities have yet to issue an official statement on the attack.

Libya has remained dogged by turmoil since 2011, when a bloody NATO-backed uprising led to the ouster and death of long-serving President Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power.

Currently, two rival seats of power are vying for supremacy in Libya: an internationally recognized national unity government based in Tripoli, and a government supported by a legislative assembly based in the eastern city of Tobruk.