UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11 (APP):Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned a car bomb attack in front of a shopping mall in the Libyan city of Benghazi, which left three UN workers dead, and three others injured, with dozens of civilians also wounded.

The Security Council met in emergency session in New York later in the day, and discussed the latest developments impacting the war-torn north African nation.

According to a statement from the UN Special Representative for Libya, Ghassan Salame, the staff members who died and were injured served with the UN Support Mission in the country, UNSMIL, which he heads. Scores of civilians were also injured by the explosion. </s> Show caption Security officials inspect the site where a car bomb exploded in Benghazi. Photograph: Esam Al-Fetori/Reuters Libya Five, including UN staff, killed in Benghazi car bombing Explosion shattered Libyan conflict ceasefire agreed during Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha Agencies Sat 10 Aug 2019 18.40 EDT Share on Facebook

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A car bomb explosion in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed three UN staff members and two other mission members on Saturday, the United Nations said.

The UN is trying to broker a truce in the capital Tripoli, where the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a surprise attack in April. A Reuters reporter at a Benghazi hospital where casualties of the blast were taken saw a list of names of those killed identifying them as part of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

The United Nations gave no more details, saying only some of its casualties had been members working in Benghazi, where its Libya mission had been boosting its presence recently.

UN secretary general António Guterres condemned the attack, a spokesman said in a statement.

“The secretary general calls on all parties to respect the humanitarian truce during Eid al-Adha and return to the negotiating table to pursue the peaceful future the people of Libya deserve,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.

The United Nations security council was due to meet, at the request of France, to discuss the latest developments in Libya.

LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari told reporters the two people killed were UNSMIL guards. He added that 10 people had been wounded, including children. UNSMIL spokesman Jean El Alam said via email that the organisation was “in the process of gathering information”.

The explosion happened in front of a shopping mall and bank. At least one burned-out UN car could be seen at the scene.

The LNA has yet to advance beyond the southern suburbs of Tripoli, which is home to the internationally recognised government.

Around the time of the blast, LNA commander Khalifa Haftar announced a halt to military operations during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which lasts from Saturday until Tuesday, according to a statement from his forces in Benghazi.

On Friday, the government in Tripoli said it had accepted a UN proposal for a ceasefire during the holiday. However, it was not clear whether fighting in the capital would actually cease. More than 105,000 people have been displaced during the clashes, according to the United Nations. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A car bomb explosion in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed three U.N. staff members and two other mission members on Saturday, the United Nations said.The attack came as the United Nations was brokering a truce in the capital Tripoli, where the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) force launched a surprise attack in April, part of the chaos in Libya since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned the attack, a spokesman said in a statement.

“The U.N. does not intend to evacuate from Libya,” the assistant secretary-general for peace operations, Bintou Keita, later told the Security Council, which also condemned the attack.

The United Nations gave no more details, saying only some of its casualties had been members working in Benghazi, where its Libya mission had been boosting its presence recently.

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari told reporters two of those killed were guards with the U.N. Libya mission (UNSMIL). He added that 10 people had been wounded, including children.

The explosion happened in front of a shopping mall and bank. At least one burned-out U.N. car could be seen at the scene.

The LNA has yet to advance beyond the southern suburbs of Tripoli, which is home to the internationally recognized government.

Around the time of the blast, LNA commander Khalifa Haftar announced a halt to military operations for 48 hours during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which started on Saturday, according to a statement from his forces in Benghazi.

On Friday, the government in Tripoli said it had already accepted a U.N. proposal for a ceasefire during the holiday.

However, it was not clear whether fighting in the capital would actually cease. More than 105,000 people have been displaced during the clashes, according to the United Nations.

UNSMIL will be responsible for monitoring any violations, the Tripoli government said. Analysts say it is unclear whether UNSMIL has the capacity to monitor a truce as it has moved out most of its staff for security reasons.

Benghazi and the east is controlled by Haftar’s LNA allied to a parallel government in the east challenging the Tripoli administration. </s> A car bombing in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi killed two United Nations staff on Saturday, a security official said.

"Two members of the UN mission, one them a foreigner, were killed and at least eight others wounded including a child, by a car bomb" in a shopping area of the Al-Hawari district, the official said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which happened as a UN convoy was passing through the area.

Benghazi, Libya's second city and the cradle of the 2011 uprising that overthrew dictator Moamer Kadhafi, was hit by years of violence targeting diplomatic offices and security forces after his fall.

An attack on the US consulate on September 11, 2012, killed US ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

In 2017, military strongman Khalifa Haftar drove hardline Islamists and jihadists out of Benghazi after a three-year battle.

Haftar, who backs an eastern-based administration that opposes the Tripoli-based unity government, went on to seize Derna, the last city in eastern Libya outside his control.

But bombings and kidnappings have continued.

A May 2018 attack left seven people dead and last month, a car bombing at the funeral of an ex-army commander killed at least four people and wounded more than 30 others.

A Libyan lawmaker is also feared to have been abducted by an armed group in the eastern city, the UN and lawmakers said in July.

Haftar controls most of eastern Libya, and early this year he ordered his self-styled Libyan National Army to purge the south of what he called "terrorist groups and criminals".

On the heels of that campaign, his LNA launched in April an offensive to take the Libyan capital from the UN-recognised Government of National Accord.

The LNA on Saturday announced a truce around Tripoli for the three-day Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha, after the unity government conditionally accepted a ceasefire called for by the UN. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya -- The death toll from a nighttime twin car bombing near a mosque in a residential area of Libya's eastern city of Benghazi rose to 33 on Wednesday, authorities said.

The Tuesday night attack, which struck the city's Salmani neighbourhood, also left 47 people wounded, local health official Hani Belras Ali said.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bombing, but many assumed it was the work of remnants of an Islamic State group faction largely driven out of Libya.

Benghazi police said the attackers timed the second bomb to go off as residents and medics gathered to evacuate the wounded from the first blast, aiming to cause a maximum of casualties.

Khaled Almajdoub said his brother Khalifa, a car mechanic, was killed in the second explosion after he ran out to help the wounded.

"Many people were gathering and more people left the mosque when the second blast happened, and my brother died then," said Almajdoub. "He has four daughters, no political or religious affiliation and was just a small business owner."

The United Nations has condemned the bombings, saying that direct or indiscriminate attacks on civilians are prohibited under international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes. Libya's U.N.-backed government, which is based in the capital, Tripoli, announced three days official mourning.

Neighbouring Egypt, which supports eastern Libya's strongman Khalifa Hifter, also denounced the attack, calling on the international community to "take a firm line on arms smuggling into Libya."

Hifter, a former U.S.-based Libyan opposition member who leads remnants of Libya's National Army in the east, is at odds with the Tripoli government.

Libya fell into chaos following the ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. Since 2014, the country has been split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias and tribes.

Islamic State fighters had established footholds amid the disorder but have been mostly driven out of the main cities.

Benghazi, however, remains a trouble spot, where bombings and attacks still occur. The city has seen fighting between forces loyal to Hifter and Islamist militia opponents. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya — At least three United Nations staff members were killed in Libya after a bomb-laden vehicle exploded this weekend outside a shopping mall in the eastern city of Benghazi, a spokesman for the international body said.

The attack on Saturday occurred even as the country’s warring sides said they had accepted a cease-fire proposed by the United Nations aimed at stopping combat in the capital, Tripoli, during an upcoming Muslim holiday.

Health officials said the bomb had exploded outside Arkan Mall in the Hawari neighborhood, where people were gathering for shopping a day before the Eid al-Adha holiday. The Benghazi municipal council said the attack had targeted a convoy for the United Nations Support Mission in Libya.

Footage circulated online showed what appeared to be burned United Nations-owned vehicles as thick smoke bellowed into the sky. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A car bomb explosion in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed three U.N. staff members on Saturday, several medical sources said.The attack came as the United Nations was brokering a truce in the capital Tripoli, where the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a surprise attack in April.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned the attack and confirmed two dead, a spokesman said in a statement. A medic said another U.N. staffer later died of his wounds in a hospital.

“The secretary-general calls on all parties to respect the humanitarian truce during Eid al Adha and return to the negotiating table to pursue the peaceful future the people of Libya deserve,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

He did not give any details about the attack.

The United Nations Security Council was due to meet later on Saturday, at the request of France, to discuss the latest developments in Libya.

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari told reporters the two people killed were guards with the United Nations Libya mission (UNSMIL). He added that 10 people had been wounded, including children.

UNSMIL spokesman Jean El Alam said via email that the organization was “in the process of gathering information”. He could not be reached for further comment.

The explosion happened in front of a shopping mall and bank. At least one burned-out U.N. car could be seen at the scene.

The LNA has yet to advance beyond the southern suburbs of Tripoli, which is home to the internationally recognized government.

Around the time of the blast, LNA commander Khalifa Haftar announced a halt to military operations for 48 hours during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which started on Saturday, according to a statement from his forces in Benghazi.

On Friday, the government in Tripoli said it had already accepted a U.N. proposal for a ceasefire during the holiday.

However, it was not clear whether fighting in the capital would actually cease. More than 105,000 people have been displaced during the clashes, according to the United Nations.

UNSMIL will be responsible for monitoring any violations, the Tripoli government said. Analysts say it is unclear whether UNSMIL has the capacity to monitor a truce as it has moved out most of its staff for security reasons.

Benghazi and the east is controlled by Haftar’s LNA allied to a parallel government in the east challenging the Tripoli administration. </s> BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) - A double car bombing in the east Libyan city of Benghazi on Tuesday left at least 33 people dead and dozens more wounded, including senior security figures and civilians, officials said.

People walk near a puddle of water mixed with blood at the site of twin car bombs in Benghazi, Libya, January 24, 2018. REUTERS/Esam Omran Al-Fetori

The twin explosions shattered the relative calm that had recently returned to Libya’s second city, scene of more than three years of warfare from 2014 until late last year.

The first blast struck outside a mosque in Benghazi’s central Al Salmani district as worshippers were leaving evening prayers.

Some 10 to 15 minutes later, after security and health officials had arrived on the scene, a second, more powerful blast was detonated from a Mercedes parked on the opposite side of the street, hitting an ambulance and causing a higher number of casualties.

One of those killed was Ahmed al-Feitouri of the investigation and arrest unit attached to the general command of east Libyan security forces. A senior intelligence official, Mahdi al-Fellah, was among around 50 wounded, officials said.

The victims also included civilians, among them an Egyptian national employed in a vegetable shop in front of the mosque. Health officials said the toll could rise because some of the wounded were in critical condition.

It was not immediately clear who was responsible.

Forces loyal to eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar prevailed in Benghazi’s conflict after protracted urban battles against Islamists and other opponents that left parts of the port city in ruins.

There were several bombings during the latter stages of the conflict targeting figures linked to Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), but Tuesday’s casualty toll was far higher than usual.

The LNA claimed victory in Benghazi in July, but sporadic clashes dragged on until last month, when it took control of its rivals’ final holdout.

It has imposed strict military controls on Benghazi and other parts of eastern Libya.

The fighting in Benghazi was part of a broader conflict that developed in Libya after former ruler Muammar Gaddafi was removed from power and killed in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

The North African nation has had competing governments aligned with rival military factions based in Tripoli and the east since 2014.

The eastern government, which is aligned with Haftar’s LNA and opposes an internationally backed government in the capital, declared three days of mourning after Tuesday’s attack. </s> BENGHAZI — A car bomb explosion in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed two U.N. staff members on Saturday, several medical sources and the eastern military said.

The United Nations is trying to broker a truce in the capital Tripoli, where the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) launched a surprise attack in April. A Reuters reporter at a Benghazi hospital where casualties of the blast were taken saw a list of names of those killed identifying them as part of the United Nations Libya mission (UNSMIL).

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned the attack, a spokesman said in a statement.

“The secretary-general calls on all parties to respect the humanitarian truce during Eid al Adha and return to the negotiating table to pursue the peaceful future the people of Libya deserve,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The United Nations Security Council was due to meet later on Saturday, at the request of France, to discuss the latest developments in Libya.

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari told reporters the two people killed were UNSMIL guards. He added that 10 people had been wounded, including children.

UNSMIL spokesman Jean El Alam said via email that the organization was “in the process of gathering information.”

The explosion happened in front of a shopping mall and bank. At least one burned-out U.N. car could be seen at the scene.

The LNA has yet to advance beyond the southern suburbs of Tripoli, which is home to the internationally recognized government.

Around the time of the blast, LNA commander Khalifa Haftar announced a halt to military operations during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which lasts from Saturday until Tuesday, according to a statement from his forces in Benghazi.

On Friday, the government in Tripoli said it had accepted a U.N. proposal for a ceasefire during the holiday.

However, it was not clear whether fighting in the capital would actually cease. More than 105,000 people have been displaced during the clashes, according to the United Nations.

UNSMIL will be responsible for monitoring any violations, the Tripoli government said. (Reporting by Ayman al-Warfalli, Ahmed Tolba and Ulf Laessing; Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York. Writing by Ulf Laessing; editing by John Stonestreet, Kirsten Donovan and Jonathan Oatis)
A car bomb goes off in Benghazi, killing three members of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and two other mission members, and wounding dozens of civilians.