Gunmen stormed the headquarters of Libya’s national oil company in Tripoli on Monday, setting off explosions, taking hostages and spraying gunfire, leaving several people dead or wounded before forces aligned with the government took control of the building. Security forces clashed with the armed men at the landmark building in the centre of the city, and several blasts and gunfire could be heard, witnesses say. In the first attack of its kind against the top managers of Libya's state oil industry, two of the gunmen were also killed and at least 10 NOC staff wounded, officials said. The United Nations and Western powers have tried to set up a government based in Tripoli that might be able to unify the country. An NOC member of staff, who said he had jumped out of a window to flee, told Reuters news agency three or five gunmen were shooting inside the building and several people had been shot. The chairman of the state oil company, Mustafa Sanallah, escaped unharmed, and experts said it was unlikely that the attack would directly affect Libya’s oil production. Photos posted on social media show firefighters trying to evacuate people from the building's top floors, and wounded people being carried away from the scene. But the interior ministry said in a statement initial indications showed the gunmen belonged to Islamic State, which has previously carried out attacks in Tripoli and other Libyan towns and cities. The attack came less than a week after a fragile truce halted fierce clashes between rival armed groups in Tripoli, the latest eruption of violence in Libya, which has been in turmoil since a 2011 uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi. In May, fighters affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed a deadly attack on the national election commission offices in Tripoli.
Gunmen storm the headquarters of the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli, Libya. At least four people are killed.