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 A bomb placed under a police car close to the Foreign Ministry in
central Tripoli caused damage, local security spokesman Essam Naas
said, and one officer was slightly wounded.
Militants loyal to Islamic State, the group that controls much of
Syria and Iraq, have been exploiting the chaos in Libya where two
governments allied to armed factions are vying for power four years
after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
Groups of Islamist militants, who have declared loyalty to Islamic
State over the last six months, have claimed responsibility for
several high-profile attacks in what appears to be an intensifying
campaign.
They claimed responsibility for an attack on the Corinthia luxury
hotel in Tripoli in January, which killed five foreigners and at
least four Libyans and killed a group in Egyptian Copts in the
central city of Sirte, triggering air strikes by Egypt.
Egypt has called on the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in
Iraq and Syria to broaden the scope of their operations to include
Libya, highlighting how the insurgent group has expanded its reach
around the Arab world.
Islamic State militants have claimed most of the attacks on foreign
missions in the capital in recent months though officials there have
blamed Gaddafi loyalists.
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The capital is under the control of a self-declared government set
up after an armed group called Libya Dawn seized the city in August,
forcing the internationally recognized government to move to the
east.
Most Western and Arab countries have evacuated staff from their
Tripoli embassies since the attacks and after heavy fighting between
rival factions in the capital.
(Reporting by Feras Bosalum, Ahmed Elumami, Ulf Laessing and Omar
Fahmy; Editing by Louise Ireland)
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