A massive car bomb struck a town in eastern Libya under control of the country’s internationally recognized government on Friday, killing at least 40 people, according to an army spokesman.
Libyan army spokesman Mohammed Hegazi said that suspected Islamic State militants bombed a gas station packed with motorists in the town of Qubba, about 30 kilometers from the city of Darna, a stronghold of Libya’s IS offshoot.
The bombing came a week after a video showed the beheadings of 21 abducted Egyptian Coptic Christians at the hands of Libya’s branch of IS, AP reported.
The motorists had lined up to fill their tanks at the station, which is located next to the town’s security headquarters, Hegazi said. Scores of people were also wounded in the attack, he said.
However, a security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the gas station blast was only one in a string of attacks in Qubba on Friday. He said one other attack targeted the home of parliament speaker Ageila Saleh, who represents the elected government, based in eastern Libya.
A third attack targeted the security headquarters building itself, said the official, who also gave a different casualty figure, putting the total death toll at around 25. He said most died in the gas station bombing.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which Hegazi said bore the hallmarks of IS militants who have battled the army for months.
