At least 6 dead in bombing east of Libya capital
At least six civilians were killed in a bomb attack on a Libyan security checkpoint near Khoms.
KHOMS (AFP) - At least six civilians were killed and 14 wounded in a bomb attack on a Libyan security checkpoint Tuesday near Khoms, east of the capital, a security official said.
The attack, for which there was no immediate claim of responsibility, targeted a checkpoint manned by forces of Libya s unrecognised government at Msillata, near Khoms, 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Tripoli.
"The car bomb explosion left six dead and 14 wounded, all civilians," Safwan Bayou, commander of a unit in charge of security on the coastal road linking eastern and western Libya, told AFP.
An AFP photographer at the scene said the blast riped open a crater four metres (yards) across and three metres deep, destroying some 20 civilian and military vehicles.
Bayou said a team of experts was being sent to investigate the bombing.
Libya has had two administrations since August 2014, when a militia alliance overran the capital and set up its own parliament in Tripoli while forcing an internationally recognised government to take refuge in Tobruk, in the east.
The oil-rich north African country has been riven by chaos and warfare since the fall of longtime leader Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
The United Nations has been brokering talks to create a new unity government to end fighting between the army and the militias that seized Tripoli.
