At least eight people, including five foreigners, were killed when gunmen stormed a luxury hotel in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Tuesday, after a car bomb was detonated outside the building, local security officials said.
The SITE monitoring service said a militant group claiming affiliation with Islamic State had claimed responsibility. According to local media, Omar al-Hassi, prime minister of the Tripoli-based antigovernment, was the main target of the attack on the Corinthia Hotel. Attackers reportedly blew themselves up inside the hotel, AFP reported.
Gunfire could be heard inside the Corinthia Hotel, Tripoli's most prominent hotel where government officials and foreign delegations often stay. There were conflicting reports about the exact number and the identity of those killed as the gunmen battled security forces.
"Eight people were killed during the storming of the hotel... Five foreigners, two of them are women, one security man and two of the attackers," Mahmoud Hamza of the Tripoli security force told local al-Naba television.
Earlier, officials said three security guards had been killed in a car bomb blast just before the gunmen stormed the hotel. It was not immediately clear whether the three were among the eight deaths reported or were additional casualties.
