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Truck bomb kills 65 at Libyan police
training center
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[January 07, 2016]
MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) - At least
65 people were killed on Thursday when one of Libya's worst truck bombs
in years exploded at a police training center in the town of Zliten,
local officials and hospital sources said.
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 No group immediately claimed the attack, but the bombing was one
of the deadliest since Islamist militants started expanding their
presence in the chaos that followed the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in
2011.
Mayor Miftah Hamadi said the bomb detonated as recruits were
gathering at the police center in Zliten, a coastal town between the
capital Tripoli and the port of Misrata.
Witnesses said residents were ferrying victims to Misrata hospitals
in ambulances and cars, many with shrapnel wounds. Medical sources
said 65 people had been killed, including some civilians, though one
official said between 50 and 60 had died.
 Since the NATO-backed revolt ousted Gaddafi, Libya has slipped
deeper into turmoil with two rival governments and a range of armed
factions locked in a struggle for control of the North African state
and its oil wealth.
In the chaos, Islamic State militants have grown in strength, taking
over the city of Sirte and launching attacks on oilfields. Islamic
State fighters this week attacked two major oil export terminals.
In February last year, three car bombs hit the eastern Libyan city
of Qubbah, killing 40 people in what officials described as a
revenge attack for Egyptian air strikes on Islamist militant
targets.
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Western powers are pushing Libya's factions to back a U.N.-brokered
national unity government to join forces against Islamic State, but
the agreement faces major resistance from several factions on the
ground.
(Reporting Ayman El Sahli in Misrata and Hani Amara in Tripoli;
Writing by Aidan Lewis and Patrick Markey; Editing by Giles Elgood)
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